ATTENTION: DU'ers in FL, GA, AL, MS, LA,TX get out your hummingbird feeders!

[mnhtnbb]

They're moving north!

http://www.hummingbirds.net/map.html

[Tanuki]

1. Thank you! I live in TN, but I will get mine out as well

(as soon as the freak snow that we woke up to this morning melts!) I love those dear little hummingbirds. We had several Rose of Sharon (hibiscus family) shrubs in our yard when I was growing up in WV and the hummingbirds loved them. One grew right outside the kitchen window, which made washing dishes a little less onerous.

[mnhtnbb]

3. I hang a feeder on my back deck where I can watch them from my desk.

It will be awhile before they get to NC, but I am so looking forward to their return!

[Glitterati]

2. North Georgia here - mine has been out a week already.

We've had a unusually warm winter, so I do expect them very early this year.

Temps are dropping tonight and a wintry mix is predicted, so all the more reason to have food out for them in case they have come north a bit early.

The finches are all over the suet as well, socking in some fat for the cold nights ahead.

[Phoenix61]

4. Thanks!

I got a new feeder the end of last season that is supposed to be bee proof and have been waiting to put it up.

[Trailrider1951]

5. Does anyone have the recipe for the sugar water food for them?

I don't have any of the commercial prep for my feeder here in central Texas. Thanks!

[Tanuki]

6. According to the Audubon Society:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/mercury.postlight.com/amp%3Furl%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.audubon.org%252Fcontent%252Fhow-create-hummingbird-friendly-yard

....."Hang several feeders far enough apart that the hummingbirds cannot see one another; this will prevent one bird from dominating the rest.
Fill the feeders with sugar water; made by combining four parts hot water to one part white sugar, boiled for one to two minutes. Never use honey, artificial sweeteners, or red dye.
Hang your feeders in the shade to prevent the sugar solution from fermenting.
Be sure to change the sugar water regularly -- before it gets cloudy, or about twice a week in warm weather.
Clean the feeders with a solution of one part white vinegar to four parts water about once a week. If your feeder has become dirty, try adding some grains of dry rice to the vinegar solution and shake vigorously. The grains act as a good abrasive.
Rinse your feeder well with warm water three times before refilling with sugar solution.
Check Hummingbirds at Home and eBird to find out when the first hummingbird sightings occur each spring, and hang your feeders up a couple of weeks before that. In the fall, keep your feeders up for two weeks after you see the last bird using it.
Feeding Hummingbirds

Q: Are there any downsides to supplying a hummingbird feeder to the birds in my yard?

A: No. Your hummingbird feeder will be a supplemental source of nectar for your local hummingbirds, and can help them through times when there aren’t as many blooming flowers available nearby.".....


(Much more about attracting humming birds at link)

[Trailrider1951]

7. thank you very much!!

[sarge43]

16. Another tip

If you put out more than one feeder, don't bunch them. Put out of line of sight of each other. Otherwise, there will be a reenactment of the Battle of Britain. Hummers are extremely aggressive and they will fight over a food source, sometimes to the death. The Aztecs considered them an avatar of their god of war.

Further, it will help keep one hummer from keeping others away from the feeders.

They still may go rounds, but it'll help lower the casualty rate.

[Hortensis]

8. Was watching a hummer pull over to a red salvia this morning.

North edge of central Florida, so too cold here for them to overwinter. He was such a little guy. I was hoping he didn't have too much farther to go.

[mnhtnbb]

9. You can report his location to the website!

http://www.hummingbirds.net/report.html


I know. The ones I see here early in the season are tiny. They are so amazing.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

10. PBS "Nature" last week was about hummingbirds in slo-mo.

That and asking for money.

"Pics or it didn't happen." Alright:

Check out the Panavision-form factor monitors at 5:30. Panavision movies are often made in a 2.35:1 ratio. They are so wide that they are letter-boxed on my TV.

I resisted the flat screen TV hoax for a long time, but now that I have one, they do sell themselves on certain programming. Mine isn't that great, but still.

I'm glad to hear the hummingbirds are headed this way to take advantage of life-enhancing greenhouse gases.

[TexasBushwhacker]

15. Thank you!

I meant to watch this last week and missed it both times!

I had no idea they would get so aggressive with each other.

[Arkansas Granny]

11. I was thinking about that just today. This has been such a mild winter

and early spring that I wonder if they'll be early this year.

I had one show up last year before I had the feeders out. He came to the window where I hang the feeder and hovered there for a minute looking in. I got the hint. He came back just a few minutes after I put the feeder up.

I knew he must have been a returning guest because there is nothing around that window that would have attracted him.

[mnhtnbb]

12. I've had that happen, too. Isn't it amazing that these little guys come back to the same place

every year? Blows my mind.

I thought they might be early, too, this year because our spring is much earlier. But comparing the map so far to last year, looks about the same.

[Arkansas Granny]

13. I've heard that many bird migrations are apparently triggered

by the hours of daylight reaching the bird's retina. I've also read that it may depend on the availability of food. Whatever, it's easy enough to get the feeders out and get ready.

[FakeNoose]

14. Hummingbirds in the Pittsburgh area

My good friend always put out hummingbird feeders and water bottles in warm weather.
Also she planted "hum-friendly" flowers which were attractive to bees as well as the hummingbirds.
I think they like sunflowers, and flowers with large blossom-heads.

She got many hummingbirds every year, but I couldn't say if they were the same birds each year. (Probably not)

We get some hot weather during summers in Pittsburgh, but also lots of rain.
Usually night temps cool down to the 70s but days are often in the high 80's or low 90s.
Most summers I don't even turn on my air conditioner, or it's on for a few hours in the heat of the day.