It takes a while for the juvenile males to get the colored feathers at their throat. I believe females nest twice, not sure if there is time to raise 3 clutches before its time to fly south again. And we have so many birds, one bird simply can't run all the others off, even with 4 feeders out. No one seems to go without. I've even seen the birds stand on each other and double-dip.

We don't have ruby throat. We have broadtailed, caliope, black chin & rufous. They migrate into our area, raise one clutch, then leave. Not monogamous, males do not usually raise young. The baby males "do not" get full throat color while here(April - Sept), only a dot. The males attempt to keep "all" other birds from feeding from "their" feeder. We have 6 feeders right now, will hang more just before they start leaving in Sept. Fill all except the big gulp 3 X a day. A male Rufous just arrived. He has "1" feeder he claims as his own.

Wow, Flamey, I can't imagine having so many birds that they piggyback on the feeders. Usually I have only a male and a female and on occasion a passing visitor. I know the female had a brood and that those fledglings then appeared at the feeders. But now at any one time I have counted as many as 8, 3 of them being male with full red throat.

nicole - it would be my guess that it's the same with ruby throated... not getting the full throat color. I was just wowed by the appearance of another 2 males. I think we are suppose to have rufous in NC but have never seen one here at my house. Like you, I will put out more feeders in late August or September probably in the front yard. They will all need to fatten up without too much competition.

Your birds are huge, nicole! Love those trees. Are they birch?

Nice video. My birds don't feed happily together. I've watched videos during migration with hundreds of RTH's. (Okay so maybe "hundreds" is a bit of an exaggeration! :)

Thanks for sharing!

Wow, Nicole. We don't have any where near the population that you do.

We don't either, sheilajoyce. I have always been amazed by videos of so many hummers at feeders during migration. Mesmerizing! If I were to witness that in person, hours could seem like mere moments.

lol It's crazy! We have soooooooooooooooooo many! That's a grove of aspen trees.

I think it helps that you have all those trees right there. Lots of places for them to flit back and forth to the feeder. Great video. I remember seeing it before.

My in-laws had dozens of ruby throated hummingbirds around the feeders on their back porch, but we rarely have more than two pairs and some stragglers. They don't play nice together, but when the feeder is empty, one of them will hover and peer in the picture window, as if to get our attention.

I have heard comments from experts/banders here in the southeast that there are typically 5x the number of observed individuals in a yard. In other words, Moonie, your resident male could actually be 2 or more birds. It is also very common at this time in the summer to see young males "practicing" their show off maneuvers.

junco - that's why I'm a little bummed. I thought my little dark-headed boy was special. Now there are at least 3 specials ones. lol I'm just kidding a little bit about that. I can identify the one male from the others most of the time. I spend a LOT of time with the birds. They also have their own little quirks, habits and mannerisms.

One of the females comes in low out of the woods. She knows the "main man" is keeping watch. She will come in along side the bushes, just a foot above the ground, to the feeder closest to the treeline. About half the time she is successful. All of them are adorable!

mamagoose - years ago we had a hummer that would come look in the front door.

Yes, my hummers will come to the kitchen window and hover when the feeder needs attention! I love that. They are so personable!

I have to take my pictures from inside.

And sometimes the goldfinches come to drink from the well in the middle of the feeder.

Nicole, what do you have in those hummingbird feeders? Do you use a commercial solution or do you make your own?

blubird....1 part white sugar with 4 parts water. No boiling, we have the cleanest 1st use run off glacier water. We do have some tricks tho.

1) When they first arrive we only use Perky Pet Pinch Waist flower feeders. Looked it up and seems to be best-for-our-area to attract hummers.

2) After a few weeks and the nests are built I get out the flat flower feeders. A big gulp, holds 40 oz. We keep 2 big gulps going and about 5-6 Perky Pet feeders full.

3) The top holds water so ants don't climb in.

4) Put crisco on the pole that holds the feeder to keep ants off.

Flamey.....what do you use for food? What kind of feeder?

I do the same as Nicole for solution. However, since I am in the southern migration path, I up the sugar by a little bit. I get so many Ruby Throats passing through in Sept, it's just a bit of extra energy to get them in their way. We have a few hanging around now but not too many.

I once saw a Black Chinned here in west TN. Just once.....he was gorgeous!