Hummers in Richmond Hill

[MEGHAN]

Hey Howieh
How are the Hummers doing?
My are still at their usual feeding pace for this time of year.
Hours of nothing sometimes then they all come in at once. The male is still pretty regular though.

My Orioles have decided to take over one of my Hummer feeders. Even though they have their own. They drain all of Oriole Necter in their feeder then start on the Hummingbird feeder before I even get a chance to fill up the Oriole feeder. One female is just being difficult. She will only feed from the Hummingbird feeder. I think it is because she likes it a bit sweeter than I have in the Oriole feeder.They are crazy for sugar water this year. They are also eating a jar of jelly in one week, and 3 Navel oranges a week. Talk about pigs!! I think there are 6 of them. But it is hard to keep track. They are not territorial in my backyard at all. Not like the Hummers.  

I would be interested in seeing some of your photos.
If it is easier for you, you can e-mail them to me.
megw1975@gmail.com

[dizzy]

Hey Megan, here's a photo of one taken in my backyard on 18 May 2012. I got lucky on this shot. He was chasing all the other ones out of the area. Its been 2 weeks since i've seen a male. I had a female about 1 week ago. Its been very slow for the past 3 weeks. Does the hummer activity slow down during summer months? It doesn't seem to be slowing down for you.

Happy Birding.
Mike

[thouc]

Depends on whether you have any breeding nearby or not. If not, you're probably only going to see them during the spring and fall migration.

Beautiful picture, by the way.

[Howieh]

That's a great shot Mike but you must have insulted him 'cause he's sticking his tongue out! My regular female is still on her 5-10 minute run and every so often she has another female tagging along (it's 1 pm and they just left together). I haven't seen a male for over a week but the two females have been putting on a show late in the afternoon for the past few days. Btw, for anyone interested in seeing hummers in a garden setting wait for the summer flowers to bloom (by late June?) and try the Guild Inn. We were there for a festival last July and despite the crowds and vendors set up everywhere at least two hummers were actively feeding, especially on the butterfly bush halfway down the gardens.

[kathyal]

I don't have a hummingbird feeder, but I see hummingbirds come to my hanging basket that has hundreds of "mini petunia" blossoms in red, violet and orange.  I don't know the name of the flower, but it's an annual that's petunia-shaped but much smaller.