Humming along

[Howieh]

Non-stop action today!
We've had over twenty visits to the feeder this afternoon, at least 4 different Hummers! At one point we saw three (either female or juvies) at the same time, two were doing a little aerial battle over the feeder while a third was sitting in the tree. The 4th was a male.

Same here! in fact, shortly after lunch I was actually watching storms developing to the north and at least 3 young hummers were buzzing me (happens when I stand too close to the feeder!) and perching in the shrubs so I was able to get pretty good shots that allow me to distinguish the birds from each other. I had another flurry after supper (~7:45pm) which also included at least two males. Unfortunately the wasps have started showing up and they have been chasing the hummers away from the feeder so I think it's time to replace the regular feeder with a wasp trap. The squirrels won't be happy but you can't please everyone!

[Howieh]

Does anyone still have regular males at their feeders? I have several young hummers around constantly but I've only seen one male in the past week - probably a migrant heading south that stopped for a 'bite' before flying thru the night? He competed with a couple of the others for feeder time but he didn't do his courtship dance so I guess he had other things on his mind!

Btw, I spent an hour at Rosetta MG yesterday afternoon. The salvia is coming along but no hummers (and very few butterflies, mostly monarchs) were around.

[JW Mills]

Our regular male is still around. We haven't seen him today but we did see him the last three days.

[Howieh]

No males for several days but I had them into September last year so I expect to see migrants for 1 or 2 visits at a time. I wonder if the same birds that stopped on their way north will show up while heading south? Anyway, I got tired of shooting the hummers on their favorite perch (cluttered background, etc.) so I clipped off the twig in hopes that they would move to the branch that Mad Max used when he was here. Boy, are birds ever creatures of habit! I watched for about half an hour while bird after bird came in and hovered in the spot where the twig used to be before giving up and heading up into the trees or going to the feeder! I finally went out and stripped another twig (about a foot from the old one) and things seem back to normal - the hummers are perching once again and I am heading out to do some shooting. The wasps are still around but their numbers haven't increased so I am holding off putting up the trap, for now anyway...

[MEGHAN]

I still have my regular male. He comes in at 6:30am and again at 8:30pm. Never see him during the day. The little bugger knows I want some shots of him and I think he purposely only shows up when he know I can't photograph him.
Very few wasps around so I don't have a wasp catcher up this year. The odd one that is around don't bother my 3 resident females..they zip around the wasps and if the wasps become a bit of a bother the girls just go lick flowers for a few minutes till the wasps go away.

All in all a good summer for them. You can tell things are starting to wind down a bit as the hummers are a constant sight at the feeders and are are really (noticeably)starting to fatten up for their long migration.
Soon they'll be gone  :cry:

[Howieh]

It's been almost two weeks since I saw my last male but I still have at least one mature female and several young birds around. It's interesting to note that while they don't socialize(?) like other birds they almost always appear in pairs or groups of three so the young birds must hang around together for a while before they head south for the first time. The other thing I've noticed is that they are not deterred at all by winds and rain - a few weeks ago, during a hail storm that shredded my milkweed patch, a male visited the feeder at least 3 times in rain that was so heavy I could barely see him from fifteen feet away! Cool birds!

[Howieh]

It's no use Meghan, I simply must plant some flowers that will keep the hummers around when they're not at the feeder! My yard is quite small but it's on the north side of the house and the hummers are starting to hover around some wildflowers that border the north side of the yard, but they are like tiny asters and the birds quickly lose interest and leave or head up into the bushes to rest for their next turn at the feeder. I haven't seen a mature male since late July but my young males are finally showing some red spots on their gorgets and one even did a courtship dance this afternoon after chasing another young bird into the trees. Some guys just can't wait...

[Howieh]

I've had a male around since yesterday and when I went out early this morning to 'shoot' him there were at least three other hummers chasing each other around the yard! At one point they were all perched in the bushes chirping away - I didn't get any good shots but it was still great fun!