Hummingbirds!

3,162 Views | 48 Replies | Last: 14 yr ago by PBR
Tailgate88
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They're back! We put our feeder out last week because a few had shown up, but today they are swarming out there. I've got six or seven trying to feed at the same time.

Another sign that Fall is coming...
TLIAC
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After reading this, I put out my feeder when I got home today. I've already seen a few. Yay
PBR
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We have had 30 + for 10 days or so...Those of you getting Oriole's ...cut an orange in half and hang it someway...they will eat them like candy.....
quirkyaggie
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I've seen a handful of dead ones on campus. They're competing with bees for sweets and losing. I've never hung out a feeder before but I think I will now. They are such pretty little birds.
Yuccadoo
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I have a large number of plants that attract hummingbirds and so I have been watching them for several weeks. They spend most of their energy fighting each other off territorially, so I enjoy the constant dogfighting/aerial displays interspersed with their refueling efforts.
momlaw
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With the drought and lack of flowering vegetation we have been more generous with feeding, too.

Dozens of Orioles consuming pounds of oranges!

I have missed the Mockingbirds this summer. Wonder where they went.
Fleen
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so feeder for my humming birds and oranges will keep the big guys happy?
merrynbusy
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I've had between 10 and 15 at time. Last week they were fighting over the feeder and this week they are taking turns.
weeziezz
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Thanks for the orange tip. The Oriole's are wiping out my feeders.
jenniferjoe
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Silly question, but I've never really done any "bird attracting"...... I live in an apartment complex (older so it does have lots of nice established landscaping, flowers, etc), If I just put out a feeder, oranges, etc will they eventually show up? or do you have to be in an area that you already know they are there?
Spiderpig
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We put out a feeder for the first time a couple of months ago and within a day or so they started showing up! They've been here nonstop since then -- all ruby-throated (even now that they've started migrating). Has anyone seen any other species? Do some of the northern species stop through here in fall?
BCS Native
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We put our feeder out last week, but they like my neighbor's feeder better. I feel a competition coming on.
TLIAC
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Any tips on how to hang the orange?
PBR
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I had an old shephards hook hanger that I stuck in the ground with 1/2 orange on each side.....I have seen some just stick the orange in the crook of a tree or stuck through a branch....Even on a patio/porch railing would work...Somewhere and someway that they can perch.......
Swarely
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i put my feeder out two days ago and havent seen one. what am i doing wrong?
barbara314tx
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It took about a week for mine to start using the feeder. Maybe they like their hummingbird nectar aged.
elliefae
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I have about 10 Hummingbirds, several Baltimore Orioles and numerous colored Finch's. I will try the oranges,, thanks for the tip.
AgCPA
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Currently have 6 feeders out. The two most popular ones empty in less than a day. I even had a Baltimore Oriole trying to eat our of one. First one of those I've ever had in the yard...
war hymn aggie
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I put nectar in a feeder a couple of weeks ago and within hours, I witnessed several hummers trying to claim territory. Next day, I noticed no hummingbird activity, but upon closer inspection, I realized that I had a few dozen honeybees feeding. Guess bees trump hummers in the pecking order. Anyway, I put up a second feeder and same thing happened. Any suggestions on how to keep bees away from my feeders?
toolshed
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The bees and hunkers share my feeder. I had to put up a second feeder because I had one hummer trying to run off the rest. They come and go, depending on the day. But the bees don't seem to bother them much.
hrw_aggie03
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If the ports on your feeder are yellow, that will attract the bees. Some places also sell bee guards for feeders, but I am not sure of anyplace local. I am sure you could find them on the internet.
Yuccadoo
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Ruby throated are the dominant species, but I saw an Allen's hummingbird last week.....pretty far out of its normal range.

O/T but I have seen more Green Jays this year than ever before. And the brown-headed cowbirds are coming thru right now.....groups of thousands at my place. A bird that I do not care for. I would not miss them if they all disappeared. From Wiki:

It seems that Brown-headed Cowbirds periodically check on their eggs and young after they have deposited them. Removal of the parasitic egg may trigger a retaliatory reaction termed "mafia behavior". According to a study by the Florida Museum of Natural History published in 1983, the cowbird returned to ransack the nests of a range of host species 56% of the time when their egg was removed. In addition, the cowbird also destroyed nests in a type of "farming behavior" to force the hosts to build new ones. The cowbirds then laid their eggs in the new nests 85% of the time.[7]




[This message has been edited by Yuccadoo (edited 9/16/2011 9:48p).]
hrw_aggie03
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JenniferJoe - If you put up a hummingbird feeder, they usually show up within a week. To save money, you can make your own nectar using 1 part sugar to 4 parts water. Just dissolve the sugar in the water. You don't need the red dye.


Spiderpig - If you go to ebird.com, you can look at the species data for our area broken down by month. It looks like some people have reported seeing black-chinned, rufous, and buff-bellied hummingbirds, but those were pretty rare.
momlaw
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I put my oranges on old political sign wire stands and on hooked yard hangars. Have seen photos of them on the end of sticks driven in the ground. Imagine one could drive nails through a board and put orange halves on them... though would space, as my Orioles seem to have personal space issues.
TLIAC
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I have extra plant hooks I can use since it was so hot this summer that most of my hanging plants died. I'm going to try those and put out some oranges tomorrow. Thanks for the suggestions.
TLIAC
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Looks like I will be making my own hummingbird food - they had absolutely none at the Walmart in CS.
TKDMom
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quote:
If the ports on your feeder are yellow, that will attract the bees. Some places also sell bee guards for feeders, but I am not sure of anyplace local. I am sure you could find them on the internet.


A hummingbird feeder with beeguards is less than $10. We picked up a couple of extras at Lowes earlier in the month.

TLIAC - hummingbird feed is super easy to make. One part sugar to 4 parts water. Food color as desired, bring to a boil, let cool, store in the fridge.
turfman80
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Thanks for the advice on setting out orange halves. We have been feeding hummingbirds for years, but have never seen a Baltimore oriole in the yard. I set out two orange halves on wire hooks last night after reading this and this morning...Bingo! An oriole was feeding on one and visited throughout the day.
momlaw
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suggest skipping the food color - chemicals they (and we) don't need

TKDMom
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quote:
suggest skipping the food color - chemicals they (and we) don't need


The food coloring isn't dangerous to the birds and it allows us to see how much food is still in the bottle. We tried using clear and it makes it difficult to tell when the bottles are empty.

TLIAC
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I've made it before - just being lazy. I did put out orange halves so now I'm waiting for the other birds.
momlaw
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There are a number of hummer specialists who advise, sternly, not to use food dyes. This one is fairly straight forward with helpful dos and don'ts. I appreciate the modified recipe for temps over 90 at the end of the article.
quote:
Hummingbirds are one of the only wild creatures that we seem to be able to feed without harm. Our “sugar water food” that we call “hummingbird nectar,” is very close in composition to the pure natural nectar they harvest from flowers.

If giving sugar water to birds doesn't appeal you, I agree. Every holistic corner of my mind rebels at the use of white sugar. I expected to write a negative editorial. Instead, I have found continual and unilateral support for the proper use of hummingbird nectar. Sugar is their natural diet.

The good news is that the hummingbirds purposely vary their diet. They eat insects for protein and tests show they will seek out and prefer natural flowers whenever they are available11 - assuaging my fear of creating little bird addicts.

The only caution about using hummingbird nectar is that you must mix the proper solution and clean and maintain your hummingbird feeder. Although these two tasks are small, they must be done with responsibility. So ask yourself...

Are you a good caretaker?

Some do's:

Change the hummingbird nectar every 3-5 days, and every 2 days in hot weather or direct sunlight (over 70º). If you do not, the solution will begin to ferment.

You know it is far past the right time
if the nectar has turned cloudy
or smells sour.

Throw away the unused nectar and clean the feeder every time you change the solution. If the solution ferments - then you have a mess that has to be scrubbed and sterilized.

Hummingbirds seem to avoid fermented nectar. With dark humor, Dan True has suggested that natural selection may have killed the birds not smart enough to avoid bad food. Another source said fermented nectar tastes like sour milk. If you allow your hummingbird nectar to ferment, it will be a long time before the birds trust your feeder again.

Use pure water to make hummingbird nectar (bottled has fewer chemicals.) Boil the sugar mix for two minutes (cover the pot so that evaporation does not change the concentration) and then cool before letting the hummingbirds drink. Boiling helps to prevent fermentation so you can feel confident that your food will last a few days.

Refrigerate the unused hummingbird nectar – good for one week10 Date the container and err on the side of caution.

Hang your feeder in the shade to retard fermentation but take immediate precautions against ants. Hummingbirds like feeders in the shade better than sunlight.11

White sugar and beet sugar have been tested and are equally good. They have no significant difference in nutritional value and the minor difference in mineral content has no consequence.

Some don't's:

NEVER USE A MICROWAVE to heat your sugar solution. Microwaves heat the sugars hotter than boiling water and this breaks down the molecules – no longer suitable as hummingbird food.

NO FOOD COLORING. Food coloring is a chemical that has little effect on humans because of our size. These birds are small!! and they drink the equivalent of 300 lbs of human food every day. The dyes in food colorings coat the tongue and make it hard for them to drink5 – which is starvation to a hummer. See hummingbird feeders for info on color attraction.

Do not change the recipe – you will only cause harm.

HONEY IS BAD FOR HUMMINGBIRDS and kills the birds by causing a ghastly tongue disease. Artificial sweeteners have no food value – hummingbirds need real sugar.

TOO MUCH SUGAR does not match the natural concentration found in flowers. There are reports of people competing with their neighbors. They use more sugar because they want to have the feeder with the most hummingbirds. It is the proportion of sugar to liquid in every sip that keeps the hummingbirds healthy.

A false concentration of too much sugar may cause liver and reproductive problems. Too little will starve them. Actually, hummingbirds are too smart to starve and will simply scorn your feeder.

Commercial premixed (liquid) nectar is made with preservatives (bad for the birds) and is vulnerable to bacterial and fungal growths (early stages of spoilage are invisible). Dry commercial mixes cannot be trusted to be just white sugar (that would be a rip off.) Do not add anything – even the smallest amount. Everything else the hummingbirds need they will get from nature.

A special and expensive food mix for hummingbird health repair was/is available from Germany and used by the San Diego Zoo.11

Cleaning: If you use any soaps/cleaners/chemicals, no matter how carefully, you may risk accumulated damage. If you want to be pure – clean feeders with pure hot water – often!There is great disagreement about this. In the article on hummingbird feeders, I list some of the controversial ways to clean your feeder that may be reasonable.

If you are going to attract hummingbirds to your garden, DO NOT USE PESTICIDES. Pesticides and chemicals accumulate very rapidly in a hummingbird system because of the high volume of liquids they drink. They are too small to fight the effect so take care.

hummingbird nectar
Here is the magic and simple recipe
to match the flowers that hummingbirds like
1 part white sugar to 4 parts water

or
in temperatures higher than 90º F
the birds need more water so use
1 part white sugar to 5 parts water
BlueMiles
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Thanks for posting that, momlaw. Good tips.
Yuccadoo
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Plant botanical varieties that attract hummingbirds. At least that is my approach. All the rest of the paraphanalia falls by the wayside. 2 or 3 well placed plants will keep em' coming for the natural cycle of the plant.
Tailgate88
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Another vote for skipping the food coloring. Sugar and water are cheap - make plenty of food so you don't worry about running out, and change it twice a week. I have two feeders out and about six or seven birds on each as I type this.
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