skip to main content

The Kitchen Table

We are soooo loving our hummingbirds - Photos

12 years ago

We put up a hummingbird feeder at camp last week. Now, one week later, we're seeing as many as 5 at a time on the feeder. They are divebombing all around our deck. What a treat!

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (20)

maire_cate
12 years ago
Great photos. I love those little guys. At home I usually only 1 at a time but at our place in the mountains we'll get 7 or 8. I like your feeder, is it easy to clean?
alisande
12 years ago
Nice! I have two similar feeders, one hanging on the porch and the other in a tree. I'm thinking of moving the tree feeder to the porch as well because it has attracted big black ants.

Have you ever thought about hand-taming hummingbirds? I haven't tried it (yet), but I don't think it would be difficult. I hand-tamed all the songbirds where I used to live, but haven't been able to do it here because I can't go out in the cold with bare hands. But it would be a wonderful experience to have hummers coming to us for food. And since you have so many, that would make it easier still.
Related Discussions
We are sooooo loving our Hummingbirds - lots of photos
Q
Comments (2)
Oh, how fun, Joyce!! I know you are loving having the entertainment they sure can offer! I need to set my feeders up--I've just been so busy this summer I have little time to think to do it!! Thank you for the fun pix!
...See More
Our Winter Hummingbird
Q
Comments (5)
I've enjoyed reading about your Winter Hummer and offer this thought. If it happens that your Anna's should stay for the summer and into next winter and beyond, I won't be surprised. Looking thru my journal going back to 2001, all we ever had was the summer Rufous, but for the first time in 2008 and then every winter since, we've also now had the Anna's stay year-around, including seeing the female collect nesting cotton and actually finding her nest and nestlings in 2010. Records show that Anna's have been expanding their range for many years. It is the Female Anna's that establishes the nesting territory and nesting should begin in another month or so here near North Bend, WA. If your Anna's should stick around through the summer, you might just be having your husband get used to the early morning winter feeder duty!!! Enjoy and Good Luck
...See More
Our first Rufous Hummingbird
Q
Comments (15)
Hi shillanorth, It is still a mystery as to what triggers migration. Length of days and food availability could both be factors As mankind destroys food sources and habitat, many animals may be making a last ditch effort to stay alive. Have you ever made a late night jaunt to your favorite store only to find it unexpectedly closed? Panic and exploration... The Rufous' have just recently started migrating to the gulf areas and then turning northeast and coming back up. Nobody is sure why. Maybe loss of habitat. I would hate to promise food and not be able to deliver. I am researching flowers and plants that will give nectar all winter. I may have just made a mistake with bluebirds by feeding them lots of mealworms that enabled them to raise two broods this year. Great but, will there be enough food here for all of those bluebirds all winter? Playing Time Lord is a risky undertaking. I've been doing it for 55 years and I have found that it is very easy to mess up. Don't make promises you can't keep. The best thing I have found to do is furnish habitat. I have 10 acres with over 1000 birds of 140 species that frequent here. Habitat, habitat, habitat. I added a pic of a member of the bluebirds' first brood feeding a member of the second brood. I didn't know they did that. Here is a link that might be useful: RNWPHOTO.NET
...See More
Soooo, how much rain will we get Wed-Thurs?
Q
Comments (19)
I went out and ran errands most of the day after I did the harvesting early this morning, and then came home and canned. While canning, I logged on and looked at the QPF and saw the rain had shifted north, Scott, and I was happy for you. It was unlikely it would expand and catch both of us, so if it wasn't going to hit us here, then at least it seems likely to hit y'all there. Enjoy every drop that falls. Y'all don't have to worry about me. We'll be fine. We've had worse years than this one. For as dry as it has been overall, at least the majority of this year's rainfall here has fallen in June and July. That's actually better than if it had mostly fallen back in February and March and then very little since then. I just get tired of having to irrigate all the time when folks 100 miles north are flooding. It makes me want to stomp my foot like a 4-year-old and proclaim "It's not fair!" I also can think of more fun ways to spend money than sending it to the water company. (grin) I thought the grass in the yard looked a little greener this morning after I had watered it on Sunday, and then Tim mowed while I was canning pickles, and now the lawn is brown again. We did get rain here yesterday and a little this morning. It added up to 0.15". We'll try to make that bountiful amount of rain last as long as possible before we feel compelled to water the garden again. : ) Looking on the bright side of things, when only 0.15" of rain falls, you don't have to deal with muddy feet and muddy paws because there is no mud. Helen, Well, it all depends. Are they big drops or small drops? Kim, It is about time y'all have a good rainy summer. You haven't had one up there in so long. It probably is just as well that we aren't going to get heavy rainfall. I'm harvesting watermelons about every other day and if it rains too much once they are maturing, it can ruin their flavor. So, I suppose this week it is good not to have too much rain for the sake of the melon flavor. August melons usually have the most superb flavor because they ripen in the heat on low rainfall, so in that sense, we are right on schedule. As long as the cool weather lasts, we'll enjoy that whether we get a little rain, a lot of rain, or no rain at all. At least with the significantly cooler weather and lots of clouds, the soil moisture we have isn't evaporating as quickly as it was on the really hot days last week and over the weekend. Since it isn't likely to be raining much here tomorrow, I'd like to spend the whole day doing garden maintenance. It isn't every year you get a day in July so cool that you can happily spend the whole day weeding, deadheading, mulching, etc. I'm looking forward to that. Kim, I have a Mantis cultivator. It is the perfect size for me and I can do just about anything with it. I am amazed at how well it works on dense, compacted clay---as long as that clay has some moisture in it. The Mantis is no match for clay that is dry and has baked as hard as concrete, but it is great in clay with a little moisture. In the small areas of sandy soil that we have, it is awesome, and it works fine in the well-amended clay that we've been improving for 16 years now---cuts right through that amended clay like a knife cuts through butter. I don't know how it would handle caliche clay/rocks because I've never tried it on that. Sometimes my Mantis and I together can break up fairly hard clay better than Tim can do it with the big, heavy, rear-tine tiller, which is something I didn't expect. It seems like the Mantis digs in and bites into the soil with its smaller width while the bigger tiller is bouncing around on top of the clay and throwing Tim around with it. I love my Mantis and if it ever dies or breaks down to the point that it is beyond repair (in 5 years we've had no trouble at all with it), I'd buy another one in a heartbeat. Dawn
...See More
jel48
Original Author
12 years ago
Maire_cate, this feeder is extremely easy to clean. The bottle unscrews from the bottom, and then the bottom part snaps apart. The hardest part is the very bottom yellow section (where the hummers are perched) and even that has large openings in it so everything is easy to get at. I wish I could tell you where I got this one, but I can't. It was an end of year clearout somewhere 3-4 years back and I bought a couple of them.
jel48
Original Author
12 years ago
I haven't tried it, Alisande, but I think it would be easy to do. They have absolutely no fear of humans. We've only had the feeder up a week, but it was empty when we got out there on Saturday, and one hummer was immediately up in our faces demanding to know where dinner was! They come up and feed when we're as close as 2-5 feet from the feeder.
joan_mn
12 years ago
You got some lovely shots of them!
country_bumpkin_al
12 years ago
WOW..Great photos!! I have several hummingbirds, but not at the same time.I won't start seeing more than 1-2 at a feeder until aroundthe end of July-Sept.

What are the little white ring looking things hanginf off your feeder?
susan_on
12 years ago
Great pics! I love hummingbirds too. Mine aren't attracted to the hummer feeder so much this year, as the oriole feeder. I love watching these birds!
lydia1959
12 years ago
Love the photos!

If you stand real still and put your fingers along the perch on your feeder... the hummers will land on your hands to take a drink. You need patience, but it feels really cool! Like little threads... they are so light.
jannie
12 years ago
Your pictures are VERY COOL. You should submit them to Birds and Blooms magazine.The first time I saw a hummingbird, it was flapping its wings and making a buzzing noise. So small I thought it was a June bug.
mboston_gw
12 years ago
I live in central Florida and we have hummers in the winter time - ruby-throated and I have been fortunate to have two Rufous as well. Please keep an eye out for any
birds that have a small band on the right leg. There is a banding project going on that is trying to find out where our winter hummers go during the summer. So far no luck in recapturing them in the summer elsewhere. It was thought that they would show up in the carolinas but not so. We know that they survive because we have them return to our yards year after year. (the same birds that is). One guy has had the same male show up now for 8 years in a row and my female Rufous has been here 2 years. If you ever see a banded bird, let me know and I can put you in touch with a bander who will come and capture it and ID where it was banded orginally. It is amazing how easy it is to catch them and release them again in just a few minutes.
jel48
Original Author
12 years ago
Country_bumpkin, I think that what plastic ring thingy was on there to connect them to a cardboard base they were on in the store. I just forgot to cut it off. I'll have to be sure and do that.

mboston, I'll keep an eye out for bands for sure. How cool would that be to find out your hummers were summering here!?!

jannie, I always think that too, about them sounding like a bug. But I usually think bumble bee. Now, after being around the hummers more, I'm wondering if I've been buzzed by a lot more of them than I ever realized, and only thought it was a bee!

Susan, I used to see them at the oriole feeders too, back in MN. They say we don't get orioles here in the MI U.P. so I haven't put any out.

Lydia, I'll try that with putting my fingers out for them to stand on. Funny how you said their toes are like little threads, because that's exactly the way I was describing the way they looked to my husband yesterday.

Thanks everyone for the nice complements on the photos. I did get some really nice shots. Keeping in mind, of course, that these were the 'keepers' out of probably 200-300 hummingbird pictures that I took over the weekend :-) Isn't digital photography great? It gives you soooo many chances to get a good photo!
arcy_gw
12 years ago
On of my favorite summer pass times is watching the hummers. We have a feeder that has always attracted many birds. NEVER do they share like in your pictures. I usually have several via-ing for the feeder. The swoop down and dive at each other to chase each other away. Does anyone know why some share some don't? My feeder never goes empty!!
linda_6
12 years ago
Love love love your pictures. We have 2 at our feeder each year. Last year I think we had 3. I have one feeder on our front porch and one on the back porch. I thought if I did this they wouldn't fight, but they still do. We love watching them. I have my feeders hung by a fishing line so now we don't get any ants. Once my phloxs start blooming I'll start seeing the hummingbird moths.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
12 years ago
I'll second the comment that hummers are very easy to 'train'. I've done it every where I've lived by placing a feeder near by where I can sit or stand. In a relatively short amount of time, they will sit on your finger instead of sitting on their perch.

After seeing the attached YouTube video, we're going to take it one step further and have them feeding out of our hands!
Take a look at it; it's amazing.

Here is a link that might be useful: Training hummingbirds in Alaska
oldgardener_2009
12 years ago
Great shots! Love it.

I haven't put any feeders out for a long time, kept getting too busy to keep them filled and clean.

I'm glad to see you don't put red dye in your feeders.
jemdandy
12 years ago
Cute little hummmbugers!
sheilajoyce_gw
12 years ago
That feeder is a great design. Wish I could find one here in California. That style doesn't drip as so many other designs will. And I like the little perches for them too. Mine doesn't have any perches. And they do fight here too. One bossy one will sit on a branch within 20 feet and chase all the others away who show an interest in HIS feeder.
socks
12 years ago
What fun! Love those little feet.
Jamie_LA
12 years ago
Great pics!! They are sooo cute.
nanatricia
12 years ago
Great pic!!!!

Related Stories

GARDENING FOR BUTTERFLIES Great Design Plant: California Fuchsia Brings Color and Hummingbirds

Set this summer perennial up in a dry and sunny spot for blazing orange or red blooms into fall

GARDENING GUIDES Backyard Birds: Invite Entertaining Hummingbirds Into Your Garden

By Habitat Network

Hummingbirds — unique to the Americas — zip through open landscapes seasonally or year-round. Here’s how to attract them

GARDENING GUIDES These Hummingbird-Attracting Native Plants May Surprise You

By Susan J Tweit

These flowers, vines and shrubs offer shelter and food supplies that keep hummingbirds around longer

GARDENING GUIDES Attract Hummingbirds and Bees With These Beautiful Summer Flowers

By Annie Thornton

Roll out a welcome mat for pollinators to keep your landscape in balance and thriving

GARDENING GUIDES 8 Flowers That Hummingbirds Adore

To draw those mesmerizing little birds to your garden or doorstep, plant these flowers that are attractive in more ways than one

FLOWERS AND PLANTS Roll Out the Welcome Mat for Hummingbirds With Red Columbine

By Pollination Press LLC

Grow Aquilegia canadensis in eastern perennial gardens or informal woodland plantings for its delicate foliage and uncommon red flowers

PETS 50 Dog Photos Worth a Wag

By Sheila Schmitz

Design hounds: Share in the pet love with Houzzers' snapshots of their beloved dogs at home, in the workshop and at play

GARDENING GUIDES Great Design Plant: Glossy Abelia for Year-Round Beauty

Fragrant flowers, burgundy foliage and hummingbird allure. Deer shun this shrub, but it's a 5-star performer you'll love

FLOWERS AND PLANTS White Sage Shimmers in the Water-Wise Garden

By Oakley Gardens

California native Salvia Apiana features silvery-green foliage and seasonal flowers that bees, hummingbirds and butterflies love

PETS Good Dog! Cute Pooches at Home

The dogs of Houzz take you on a tour of their homes and show you where they lounge, eat, play, bathe and nap

Sponsored

EK Interior Design

5 Reviews

TIMELESS INTERIOR DESIGN FOR ENDLESS MEMORIES

More Discussions

Oh no! Another one!

761

Can we start a Chain Reaction Game - Part 4

291

I guess someone couldn't "bear" it

242

I'll show you mine/you show me yours - W 5/8/24

7

Wednesday's Daily Quiz

3