Ohhhhhhhhh, is that interesting!!! The seed is fresh, and I never dreamed anything could "hatch" from it ... what a wonderrrr-ful lesson! Thanks very much for your replies, I deeply appreciate it! Happy Spring and Summer! PS: I thought of the sadness in our hearts about Virginia Tech, but yet, these little tiny miracle birds come, to gladden our hearts a bit. Life is good ~ it seems!

I don't know which they like better, since I've never put up a feeder. But I do know that with flowers alone, you can attract regular visits from the hummingbirds! Each year, there are more flowers growing in the gardens than the last. Once the Bee Balm (Monarda didyma) goes into full bloom, the hummers will visit the flowers regularly until they are ready to leave in the fall. After the Bee Balm, the Lobelia cardinalis blooms, and then the Salvia splendens and coccinea, and the Cardinal climber. These are all hummingbird favorites. The flowers seem to be visited about every 15-20 mintues. Often I'll see 2 hummers, tussling and chasing each other around the flowers and yard. Last summer, there were 2 females fighting over the Lobelia cardinalis, and a male flew into the fracas, probably the mate of one of the females. Three hummingbirds were the most I've seen at one time. I have a very native and natural backyard, so their needs for habitat and insects are satisfied as well. It also helps that a couple of the neighbors have nice gardens too.

Thanks for your comment, mbrowne. I'm sure the additional feeders are affecting their behavior as well. Last year, the two feeders were guarded fiercely from a nearby wire. With 5, I'm finding one bird only guards one or two, and allows feeding at the others. I don't know if you remember my comments about timidity earlier this year--you were surprised. Well, this new mob isn't as timid, either. They'll feed if I stand motionless a few feet away, and tolerate some movement inside the house. Also I've noticed they may turn their back on me (I guess to shut out the intrusive sight of me :) Fly off only at movement, but even then come right back. All the extra acitivity is definitely worth the little bit of extra work.

Are they honey bees or yellow jackets? We have problems with yellow jackets this time of year but during the spring we had a 'swarm' of bees for at least a week. They eventually left but we found if we put out a weaker mix of nectar the bees lost interest. This time of year we use the bee guards to keep the yellow jackets out of the feeders. The guards also prevents the surprise of YJ's popping out of the tubes when the Hummers go to feed! :) You might try adding 1-2 more feeders.........make a stronger nectar mix for the bees in one feeder and hang two extra feeders elsewhere in the yard, filled with a regular mix for the Hummers We have Anna's Hummingbirds year round so we have no fewer than 6-8 feeders to tend to. Come this winter we'll probably have 30 hummers to feed. Below is our favorite feeder, and in the winter we add the large sizes. Here is a link that might be useful: Best feeder