Spotted first one of the season this afternoon! Male ,ruby-throated, made a quick stop then about 10 minutes later on again on the other feeder, yaay!! But don't think they are same ones that were here as they ignored me, smile...home gems used to do happy dance with dips to greet me and express their joy of making it back, would do happy dance when their babies started flying....wish there was a way to track them, also wish they were banded, but main thing they are back. Weather to be around 40 on sat, as long as it doesn't freeze, but did think they'd wait a while. Now off to mark the date on the map. Bea in Belle Chasse La ( near New Orleans )

I haven't seen any hummingbirds yet. Then again, the only blooms in our yard right now are tulips, daffodils, iris, harlequin flowers, azaleas, and pansies... a few dianthus. The brugmansia and lantana are showing green two months early. The ginger lilies, cannas, asclepias, and elephant ears seem a bit early too. Passion flower, clematis, columbine, and gerbera daisies all have large flower buds on them. Easter lilies started popping up in December, oddly enough. First year I've noticed them doing that. Oh! The big box store astilbes that I thought had died started coming up earlier this month. Very excited about those! If I had known spring was going to come this early... Well, it seemed more like summer a few days this past week... I would have started seeds in early February or late January. Now I'm scrambling to get everything sown before it becomes too warm! A few cold nights ahead, so hopefully the late winter sown containers will catch up with the others. Jeff

Regarding the 4:1 sugar solution: the four to one mix (20%) is the standard but Marcia's three to one (25%) is used by some, especially in winter when freezing is a possibility. The higher concentration of solids lowers the freezing temperature of the liquid so it will remain liquid in colder temperatures. Refractometer testing of nectar from various "hummingbird plants" indicates that the sugar percentage of naturally occurring nectar ranges from 15% to greater than 32% (32% is the highest accurate measure for the refractometer used). The percentages vary by season as well as time of day. Although birds may feed on the flowers measuring 32%, many the blooms fed on will likely be of a lesser concentration, averaging in the range of our homemade solutions. The recipe for sugar water has always been 4:1 then boil for 2 minutes to kill any bacteria. Boiling isn't really necessary for sanitizing the solution. I boil the water before adding the sugar just to dissolve the sugar easier. If you keep extra solution in the refrigerator, boiling may extend its shelflife. The boiling free powders are just finely ground sugar that dissolves easily. I recommend against using any of the solutions or powders that have added ingredients. There is no evidence that any of these ingredients are necessary and the fact that there are many cases of birds feeding almost exclusively at feeders with no health issues indicates that there is not a long term problem with our feeder solutions. The female Rufous that has visited my yard for the past seven years migrates to the north Pacific coast for the summer and then returns to my yard for seven month of the year (August - March). My issue with the solutions without additives is mainly a case of money. How much sugar can you buy for the cost of one bottle of solution. It's like coffee at a restaurant. At a dollar plus a cup of coffee, you could buy a pound of coffee for the cost of 5-6 cups. How many cups of coffee can you make with that pound. Regarding Sarasota hummingbirds: If you first saw them in August in the past, that's what I'd expect this year as well. Areas near breeding birds are beginning to see the local young dispersing. If you don't have any local breeding, you can expect birds when migration of young birds and adult males begins in late July/early August. Migration lasts through September/October. It sounds like you were seeing migrating birds last year. It may have seemed as though they were the same birds but you likely saw a regular turnover of birds. The "experts" like to suggest that these birds don't stay longer than 2-3 days but I believe some of these birds stay much longer. I would like to see fall banding of hummingbirds to confirm the timeframe that they stay but it is almost impossible to get them in the cage with the abundance of flowers around. Regarding summering birds south of Tampa: I received a report of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird nest on the Big Cypress Bend boardwalk (Collier County) a few weeks ago. The observer documented it with photos and video. Steve Steve Backes Valrico, FL backes1@verizon.net http://mysite.verizon.net/resu64md/yardhummers/ http://floridahummingbirds.net/ http://floridahummingbirds.proboards.com/ Here is a link that might be useful: Florida Hummingbirds Forum

Hip, hip, hooray. I had a feeder up, and had a hummer feeding from Jan. 4 until Feb. 17th. He sipped every morning, but never hung around. I saw my first hummer yesterday, March 14th. He sipped, perched on a branch, and stayed a while. Today, he appeared at 8 am, perched, came again at 1 pm and 2 pm. I added another feeder today. I hope he stays and brings his friends, and I will add more feeders. He is so pretty, and I guess I will wake at dawn tomorrow to watch him. (sorry if this is a repeat, I think I deleted my first entry!)