This is a very old thread, but I'll comment because I'm trying to figure out why hummingbirds prefer old nectar over new. I suspect the OP's fresh good was competing with someone else's older food nearby, and the hummers prefered the older food. I have identical feeders, and my Anna's will ignore the freshly filled one in favor of the older one until the old one is empty, then they'll do the same when I refill it- ignoring it until the older one is dry. The behavior is clear and obvious, and seems to be something they can smell. I suspect they are attracted to the odor of a tiny bit of alcohol in the older food, but maybe something else. They fly up, hover a second, and go to the oldest one. I switch the feeders around and try all sorts of tricks, but they know which has older food, and that is definitely their preference.  I'm in the cool PNW, and my feeders are used up in a week, so it won't be much alcohol. Behavior might be reversed if the nectar ever got very old. I might test that this summer.

So THAT's where they all are!! There is just almost nothing here (S-W Quebec) so far, save for a lonely Northern oriole in the apple tree... And I had EVERYTHING for my backyard bird bliss at the same time last year! But the weather is pretty bad (Easternly high winds and scattered rain), so insect-eating species must not be in too much of a hurry to get to the North I figure... The black-throated blue is my one if my own favorites!

They are all Swamp Sparrows. A hatch-year (HY) White-throated Sparrow, which you could see in its first fall/winter would have white wing bars and would also have the white throat, yellow lores, and black/white head stripes of an adult (After hatch year [AHY]), just paler than an adult. You can check out the link below...it may be helpful. BN Here is a link that might be useful: plumages of WTSP

catherinet: I just checked the song of the White-crowned Sparrow on All About Birds but it's not it. We don't get white-crowns here anyway, or at least very rarely. I did see a pair years ago (I think) when I didn't know it was rare and I don't have pictures. I checked eBird and they were seen in the area at that time so my sighting might have been legitimate. The Beethoven song I hear is common - I hear it every year so it must be a common bird in my area. Claire