I found this thread, as I am a bit concerned myself about the hummers we enjoyed so much last year. We live just north of Panama City, Florida, and had several females and a couple of males. They arrived I think about the end of May or the beginning of June and stayed until October or so, the males leaving first. This year we've had a couple passers-through on their way further north, but here it is almost July and the permanent ones haven't showed up yet. I'm changing the nectar regularly just in case, but it stays at the same level day after day so I know they're not visiting it. I hope this isn't a sign of something more serious... Bruce C.

Yes, it is good to have this sort of interest, but perhaps a little less squabbling would have been good--I say, a bit sheepishly. The only other Trey I ever heard of was also a guy, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. The question remains, is BN a guy? I don't know of any non-female Kristins, and I am, indeed a gal. Isn't it nice we got all of that straightened out? I had a feeling there was more to your garden than you originally described, and from the beginning I suspected that's why you were so puzzled by the birds' behavior. At an earlier stage in the discussion I was frustrated that appropriate conversations were being missed in favor of the Trey's garden doesn't have much to offer hypothesis. I, too, am glad to see the discussion turn to analysis of behavior. A number of good thoughts have been expressed already. I figured your "other hummer plants" referred to significant additional plants, but even I was surprised by how much your garden has to offer. It also sounds like there are similarities between our gardens and where they are situated. The garden I speak of is actually at my mother's house in suburban Pittsburgh. Like yours, it's an old suburb, with lots of woods and streams nearby. Also, except for the trumpet vine, lilies, and daylilies, all of the hummer plantings are new this year--Agastache, Monarda, Aquilegia canadensis, Lobelia cardinalis, Salvia coccinea, Petunias, Verbenas (both annual and perennial), snapdragons, impatiens, and cardinal climber in a pot. Of these, only the Aquilegia, Salvia, petunias, verbenas, and Agastache are currently blooming. I wonder if Jenny's suggestion about patience may be in order for us. Perhaps simple habit is the key here, and it will take time for the hummers to get used to the fact that there are good, natural food sources in our gardens. Still, I think I may be onto something when I say that feeders are easy. Once the hummers have figured them out, they are like fast food. I hate to use that analogy, but I think it's apt. Feeders allow them to come in, feed, and get out quickly, with very little expenditure of energy. Feeders don't, however, provide the traces of extra nutrition that may be present in flower nectar. That is why it disturbed and surprised me last year when the hummers so readily switched from the trumpet vines to my feeders. It was nice having them at the feeders because it made them easier to see, but I couldn't help but worry if I were doing them a disservice, like opening a McDonald's. To combat this, I resolved to plant more flowers this year, and have done so. So far, I'm seeing the same thing as you--feeder preference over flowers. Interesting that when I took both feeders in for cleaning, and had them inside for an hour, I first saw the female at the columbine. Let me know if you decide to experiment with bringing your feeders inside. Are your feeders situated in your garden in plain view of the flowers? I couldn't quite figure that out from your description of you and your neighbors' yards. There also seems to be some difference in opinion about what we can expect from young birds and their behavior. On the one hand, with no feeder experience, you'd think they would be more likely to use natural sources. My experience, though, was that they, too, immediately abandoned the trumpet vine for feeders. I posted the picture of my feeder, because I wonder if the design is easier for them to acclimate to than some of the other types. I modelled one of them after a cardinal climber flower, and the other after a Salvia. Perhaps they're similar enough to flowers that it's simple for even young birds to catch on. Who knows. Maybe I'm a "victim" of my own feeder making skills. That said, it's awfully hard to arrive at conclusions about why these little birds do what they do. We could run years of carefully controlled scientific studies and we'd no doubt learn something, but still wouldn't be able to explain some of their behavior with certainty. I believe they are also capable of quirky, individual behaviors that are hard to analyze.

I have 3 nesting pairs of Bullocks orioles they were having a hard time eating from the hummingbird feeders so i drilled out the holes to a larger size. Then i found a oriole feeder at the thrift shop. Then i hung orange slices and put half oranges on a platform. then put a plastic lid about 1/2 inch deep on the platform and filled it with orange juice and pieces of fruit, watermelon, plums or cherrys and apricots now have evening grosbeaks and orioles all the time. Also this year after the young orioles started coming to eat have 11 small orioles here in and out every little bit from daylight to dark. go through 2 to 3 quarts of sugar water and 1 to 2 cups of fresh orange juice and lots of fruit every day. Here the Orioles disappear from late August to early Sept. and show back up in mid april to first part of May to nest.

I also have that feeder... $10 at a local garden shop last year. A couple of things about the feeder: - The color fades if you hang it in the sun all summer. Mine is still orange, but paler than it was. There is a clear difference between the underside and the sun-exposed top side. - I never saw an oriole use the perches. To eat the orange they will hang from the metal rod. Post-migration, when they stopped eating orange and instead preferred grape jelly, they would still cling to the metal rod and stretch down to eat the jelly from the trays. I never saw an oriole drink nectar, but I was a few weeks late getting this feeder up and it's possible they just no longer wanted nectar by that time. I would like to see orioles using the perches, so I'm considering putting an orange slice over each nectar hole and holding them in place by sticking something(stick/nail) down into the holes. - We had never seen orioles before, and I wasn't really expecting to see any when I put the feeder out, but within a couple days there were two of them out there eating the orange. This year I am going to get the feeder out sooner and I also have a vibrant orange bucket sitting in the garage that I'm going to throw over a fence board. Between the feeder and bucket I'm hoping any orioles flying over the area will drop in for a closer look.