Hi Fellow Hummingbird lovers. I am Aprille and like all of you am very fascinated by these amazing creatures. Something so magical about them. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and think from research that I've done that what I have is Anna's Hummingbirds. Anyway a few years ago I noticed a female starting to make a nest in the dip in my hummingbird feeder (it was a old bottle that someone had made into a feeder) it was later in the year and she never did lay eggs, year two she came back and I had moved the feeder so she built her nest on the L of our gutter, year tree she came back and did the same - she also laid eggs but never hatched them - all of this was toward March and always on our front porch by the door - not a good location. I think she finally realized this because this year (at least I think it's the same female) she made her nest in our back yard in the Scented Corkscrew Vine - right outside our back patio door (she really likes door ways!)well ... she laid her eggs, she hatched her eggs and we have two babies!!! I think they are roughly a bit over two weeks ... I have been lucky enough to experience this amazing thing in my life and have taken pictures which I have shared with my friends on facebook and then I remembered years ago when she first made her nest and I had questions I came here and everyone was so happy for me and so encouraging - so I wanted to share with you my beautiful guest and her young! Here is the link to my public album on Facebook - hope this works as it's been awhile since I've done this. Enjoy! Aprille Here is a link that might be useful: Facebook Album of Hummingbird Nest and Babies

We got a quote for Huntwood cabinets when we built our house, but in the end went with Canyon Creek. I loved the beech wood cabinets in the showroom but the price was over our allowance. I can't tell you much else we only looked seriously at those two. They were very nice though.

Anna's routinely overwinter in much of the PNW - they are pretty much considered year round residents. While less common year round in central OR than in more coastal locations, they can and do remain present all winter. My suggestion is keep your feeders up and filled as long as you see the birds, perhaps all winter long. Hummers can take some pretty cold temps: "Anna’s also take advantage of the hummingbird’s motto “When things get tough, the tough go to sleep.” A hummingbird in torpor can drop its body temperature from about 40°C to about 9°C (from 104°F to 48.2°F) and reduce its respiration rate from 245 breaths per minute to 6. It can even suspend its breathing for up to five minutes. The metabolic rate of an Anna’s during torpor can be 300 times lower than when in flight. The savings are significant; they can help a hummingbird sleep through a severe weather period. A typical winter day might find an Anna’s sucking sugar, slowly turning it to fat, and then going into torpor during the night, living off the stored fuel. An Anna’s can gain 16 percent of its body weight during the day and then burn it all off during a cold night. (Imagine waking every morning 25 pounds lighter.) The fluctuation is extreme enough without adding the energetics of flight. Regardless of the season, awake and flying, a hummingbird is always just a few hours from starvation. So, unless you are following a mountain migration route south that allows you to fly flower to flower as other hummingbirds do, it is best to keep your metabolic engine parked in the garage as much as possible. This is especially important if, during flight, your heart beats 1,260 per minute, by far the highest rate of any vertebrate. The alternative is running out of gas long before you reach the wintering grounds. Anna’s Hummingbirds trying to survive a cold winter also have another item in their bag of tricks: They eat insects and spiders. They will hawk flying insects, glean tree hoppers from leaves, probe crevices for spiders, steal captured insects from spider webs, and pluck trapped insects from tree sap. And you can assume that even more insects and spiders await discovery in winter by hummingbirds that know where to look."

The same thing happened with our Anna’s Promise. Im pretty sure she’s a goner. She was so pretty last fall; I feel your pain. :-( We also appear to have lost 1 Lady Shallot, 1 Midnight Blue, and our potted Koko Loko. The last one I really don’t understand because it spent the winter in its pot in the greenhouse. Im keeping a close eye on Day Breaker too, but it doesn’t seem likely. I’m giving all of them plenty of time to try to turn around. Probably won’t plant anything new in their spots until next year. So maybe. Fingers crossed. I feel like we did ok as newbies getting so many babies through the winter. Trying to stay positive. :-)