Oh! That's a great video! I went to my local KMart last evening and they were sold out. I'm going to try online. I really like that!

Many times our hummingbirds have sat in a crab apple tree while the sprinkler is on. As it passes around they get a nice little sprinkle.

Just saw the first female at the feeder. Little while ago been seeing a male at the feeders and at parts of the yard. Once after leaving the feeder it went up into a tree and started doing the fast "U" shaped aggressive flight like when they know a rival is nearby, but I couldn't see another one? Don't know if this is always the same one I'm seeing

Sounds like the breeding season is starting in your yard, Skippy! Feisty little birds.

I'm still only seeing males but for the first time I've seen one several times during the daytime, not just at night, so maybe he's staying here. In any case, I went out to change the solution in the feeder and I got buzzed by that little bitty thing (don't mess with my feeder!)

You forget that there's a hole in your yard until the hummingbirds come back and fill it.

Claire

Saw my first hummingbird at the feeder yesterday!

Congratulations, vermontgirl! The hummingbirds are really appearing everywhere in New England now.

Claire

The first female hummer is here! I think she arrived in the early evening on May 6 but I couldn't get a clear look because it was getting dark. I first saw one hummer on my deck feeder and assumed it was the male, but a second hummer came to that feeder and for a short while there were two hummingbirds feeding together. This is really unheard of for two males so I think it was probably a female and the male was checking her out. The second hummer eventually flew off, sort of buzzing the first and it soon reappeared on the feeder on the other side of the house. The first hummer stayed at the deck feeder.

The next night I got a quick glimpse of a probable female but I couldn't get a photo until today. Yesterday and this morning were warm so I was out on the deck a lot, and the hummers haven't accepted that yet.

The Amelanchier/serviceberry is blooming now so that may be a good sign here for the female hummingbirds to arrive.

Claire

I didn't get a photo, but a male ruby throated hummer visited my feeder yesterday afternoon. Also a pair of tree swallows are flying in and about my birdhouse. No barn swallows on the front porch yet, but it seems that the birds have officially decided that spring is here.

That's great, spedigrees, and your barn swallows are always a treat.

Claire

Saw my first Oriole and Hummer in the Crabapple today. The Oriole was eating Winter Moth caterpillars. The Hummer looked at the feeder, but then went back to the flowers on the Crabapple to feed. Do Hummers eat caterpillars also?

Sorry no pics.

Steve

Good news, Steve, and particularly good that the oriole and hummer were eating Winter Moth caterpillars!

Hummingbirds eat insects for protein and the newly hatched Winter Moth larvae should be a nice size for them.

Bugs for Hummingbirds

Claire

I saw another hummer today. The light was right so that I could see it was male. It was hanging out near the Dicentra again, though I startled it before I saw it actually feeding.

What is the mixture For Baltimore oriole food .

Pd728, most folks use jam, or halved oranges, or berry suet for Baltimore orioles, though at times they visit hummingbird feeders with the regular mix. Check out the Birds and other mobile features in the garden 2015 #5 to see discussions and photos of orioles and oriole feeders starting on May 3.

pd728: I agree with NHBab's post and I use jam and oranges for the orioles myself. I did buy a dedicated oriole nectar feeder but stopped using it because too many beneficial insects were getting in the ports and drowning.

That said, Wild Birds Unlimited has NECTAR FOR HUMMINGBIRDS AND ORIOLES recipes, with the oriole recipe being more dilute. Orioles will happily drink hummingbird nectar strength or more diluted - they're not fussy.

Claire

Saw my first hummer today in the apple tree here in Springfield, time to put out the feeders.

Congratulations, gardenbear1, but I'll bet you would have seen the hummer sooner if you'd put the feeders out a few weeks ago.

Claire

Claire

With the way the weather has been I couldn't even put out plants because of the cold.The hummer was back this morning watching me put up the feeder.

Still have not spotted a hummer at my syrup feeder, but several evenings have seen a B. oriole there drinking deeply. Orioles are less interested in the orange halves--only the ants seem to like those. :--}

Wednesday I saw 4 but have not seen any more. Is it because they are in mating season now + flower are in Bloom

pd728: Probably a little bit of both. hummingbirds.net has a good section on Where did my hummers go?

They say

"Where did my hummers go?

You watched the migration maps and hung your feeder in time to
attract the first migrants. You kept the feeder clean and the
syrup fresh, and were rewarded by lots of visits from migrants,
then the activity settled down to regular appearances by the resident
birds. Pretty cool hobby, eh? Then, perhaps in early May (depending
on your latitude)...

NO MORE HUMMERS! Where'd they all go? This didn't happen last
year! Or did it?

Welcome to the nesting season, folks. I'll discuss Ruby-throats
in particular, but similar principles probably apply to most other
species. Shortly after arriving, the females establish a nesting
territory. Ruby-throats prefer secluded wetlands for nesting,
if available, and proximity to your feeder is not an issue; in
fact, females don't like to build nests in a male's feeding territory,
and your feeder is probably part of one. Visits to distant feeders
take too much time away from the eggs. When the chicks hatch,
they need protein to grow, not sugar, so their mother spends most
of her time catching small insects and spiders for them.

During this period, I personally still see a male or two at
my feeders, but typically only early or late in the day.
I suspect that once their breeding duties are over,
males tend to abandon territories and forage more widely to fatten up
for migration.

After the chicks fledge (leave the nest), expect the number
of hummers at your feeder to be double what it was before the
"disappearance." As summer progresses, there will be
fewer natural hummingbird food sources available in many parts
of the continent; feeders can have a real positive impact on the
number of birds that survive, especially in the dry Midwestern
U.S., so please keep them clean and fresh.

And keep notes on your tiny visitors, if you like, so you can
verify for yourself that this is a normal, annual process."

Claire (whose hummers are drifting off except that one appeared this morning when I was hand watering the garden - it loved the mist from the sprinkler nozzle)

Here's a photo, although not a good one, of a female ruby throated hummer at the feeder the other night. They always show up late in the day when the light is not great for taking photos.

When will the hummingbirds start picking back up at the feeders. See some here and there but not every day do I see them. I know there's plants and Mating season going on too. I keep the feeders clean and have fresh sugar water.

I'm hoping with my Peony tree's starting to bloom they will start coming around more.

pd728: According to Cornell's All About Birds site, the nesting period is 18 to 22 days, so that sounds like about three weeks before the babies fledge and the mother can ease up on catching insects to feed them. By then there should be more hummers visiting the feeders.

Claire

Can you freeze hummingbird nectar ?

I've never frozen hummingbird nectar myself but I've read that many people do. After all, if you can freeze a popsicle you can freeze sugar water.

Claire

Here in the Piedmont of SC we are still in the "disappearing act" stage. Keeping the feeders out but no sightings. I thought I heard one early morning yesterday but never saw him/her. :/

I been seeing a lot of females at the feeders yesterday . Some in morning and a lot in the evening. One time I look out and there were two females at on feeder.

Hummingbirds in Boston Area

pd728: You're probably seeing a mix of juveniles and adults. The juvenile males look like females - they don't start developing the male plumage until a little later on. By the end of the summer you should be seeing the beginning of the ruby gorget.

This pic is of a hummingbird that I think was a juvenile male. He's just starting to get speckles on his throat.

Taken on September 5, 2013

Beautiful photo, Claire!

Susan

The hummingbirds have been very active at my house. I think some are back from the north then heading south for the winter now. Have people been seeing a lot of active later?

I still am seeing females, but wouldn't say that there is much change in the frequency. I don't think I've seen any males this summer.(*edited to say that some of my "females" seem to be immature males.)

You might want to add your location to your profile so that we know where you are generally. Here's how:

Go to Your Houzz in upper right of every page, click Edit Profile, and on the left side click advanced settings. Well down the advanced settings page is a blank labeled Climate Zone for Garden Forums along with a link to find your zone.

If you add info on your state or the nearest large city you will get even better information since zone only relates to average coldest winter temperatures.

Then return to the top of the page and click Done Editing.

I'm seeing both males and females (or juveniles) every day, but some of them are probably migrants. Often they won't be quite familiar with my feeders and will fly around checking them out, or they'll buzz up in my face (who are you, lady?).

Where are you located pd728? The more northern people, like NHBabs, will stop seeing hummers way before CT people as the hummers steadily move south.

Claire

I think my little birds have left on their migration. I've not seen any at the feeder for two days now, but I'll be keeping it up and refilling it in case any migrants from Canada make an appearance.

A few weeks ago I was stringing page wire on a fence through our swampy area, and attaching it to posts with temporary plastic zip ties, when I turned around to see a tiny hummingbird hovering right over my shoulder eyeing the bright pink plastic of the zip ties. Poor little guy! Hopefully he found his way to the feeder on the front porch or to blossoms growing wild or in the gardens.

I've wondered about the speed of the fall migration and I did find this site that says

"As the ruby-throated hummingbird migrates southward, it averages about 23 miles per day.8
This sounds like a lot but is actually somewhat leisurely and not
extreme for the bird. They are used to accumulating many miles every
day while feeding on nearly 2,000 flowers.
"

That's a good reason for us southerly types to keep the feeders up so the northern hummingbirds have a waystation.

Claire

We still have a lot of activity here. A few females and/or young males. We haven't seen the adult male for at least a week or more.

They seem to become so tame towards the end of the season. There is one this season that is now following me in the garden. I know it sounds crazy, but wherever I work, the hummingbird comes to feed. This happened a lot at my old house/garden. We're good buds now!

Claire, I see what you mean by transients being unfamiliar with your feeder. I just saw a hummer buzz around everything in the yard to see if they could feed from it...it even buzzed an empty beer can left on the railing! They finally found the feeder. (guess I'll pick go pick up after my man that leaves empties around the yard as he works...at least he does yard work with me, so I can't complain)

After never seeing one single hummer all this spring or summer, I'm suddenly seeing them everywhere. The syrup would disappear at a good rate, but no matter how I lurked and watched I simply never saw a hummer sipping (though I did catch the odd chickadee at it) ....

However, just in the last week I've had a number of sightings. Some I think are definitely migrants from the north, but whoever they are I'm so happy to finally see some!!

Thank you to everyone south of me for feeding the hummingbirds! Your migrants may be my "regulars" and don't worry, they are resourceful little guys and will find your feeders after investigating empty beer cans and other bright colored objects!

I live ct and my hummingbirds uesly leave sept 15. I saw 3 yesterday at my feeders. The last time I saw them is around 1:00 pm. How long should I keep my feeders up.

pd728: I would (and I will) leave the feeders up until at least the end of September, and probably until close to frost. I'm still seeing hummers but when that's rare I'll take in the feeder from the deck and leave the feeder up in the front yard.

The deck feeder will come in because the raccoons empty it every night and I have to refill it every morning. The front yard feeder only needs to be refilled every four or five days, depending on the weather.

Claire

edit note: I just saw this site

The amazing tongue of the hummingbird

I think 9/12 was the last we saw of our hummers. I'm still keeping the feeder up.....wishful thinking? Ha ha. It's always sad when they leave.

I don't know if anyone else has this experience, but each season as it is nearing the time for them to leave, I find that they follow me around in the garden and feed very close to wherever I might be working. I chit chat while I work and wish them well for their trip home and let them know I'll have the garden ready for them again next year. I know.....I'm a nerd!

I seen one on my Phlox the other day and I still have a feeder up so I wonder if it was one passing through and did not know about the feeder.

T2D, the last one I saw was 9/12 also. I'm still keeping an eye out though.

Cool video link, Claire

It *is* sad when they leave. I haven't seen a bird in about a week now, but I cooked up a partial batch of nectar today, enough to fill the feeder twice more, just in case any stragglers come through.

Just saw that video, Claire, excellent! Glad you posted it. Female hummer(s) are still here this morning - Sept. 19th - and we made new nectar. I think this is the latest I recall seeing them here, but I just saw a monarch the other day, so everything is a couple of weeks later this year, so it seems.

Jane

Hung out with a hummer in the garden today! I live just outside Manchester, NH. Glad I kept the feeder going. I wasn't ready to give up on seeing them yet!

I think mine are gone, but I'm filling the feeder one last time today and will leave it up until the end of the week just in case.

I'm still seeing hummers occasionally, but not every day. I like to think these are NH hummingbirds, but I can't see their license plates.

Yesterday's bird bathed itself in the mist of the water spray when I hand-watered some plants. It also chased a chickadee away from the feeder (I think the chickadees like to dare the hummers - they seem disappointed when they can drink from the feeder without being attacked).

Claire