Humming Birds

[Dennis1209]

These Humming Birds are amazing little critters. The past two summers I did not hang any Humming Bird feeders, too lazy. This spring sitting here at my computer, looking out my window, on several occasions a Humming Bird would hover at my window looking at me, then fly the eight feet where I always hung the feeder, hover a bit, then fly off.

This spring I put out a feeder, and they came like a swarm of mosquitos. I got such a kick at watching them land and feed, dive bomb each other, and do acrobatic maneuvers.

Well, three days ago and all of a sudden, that swarm turned into a trickle here in northern Tennessee, with just maybe a dozen or so visiting the feeder. Guess they are headed south now, and I don’t want to leave the feeder in cold weather. I understand that some may stay for the sugar water and may freeze to death?

A Humming Birds brain can be no larger than a pea, yet after two years, they remember exactly where that feeder was, and came hundreds or maybe thousands of miles away to that exact location? Talk about memory and GPS. It took the wife three years to find our local Walmart without using the GPS. 

Yawl (forced Tennessee accent) put up feeders this year? They still around?

[Michael37]

22 minutes ago, Dennis1209 said:

These Humming Birds are amazing little critters. The past two summers I did not hang any Humming Bird feeders, too lazy. This spring sitting here at my computer, looking out my window, on several occasions a Humming Bird would hover at my window looking at me, then fly the eight feet where I always hung the feeder, hover a bit, then fly off.

This spring I put out a feeder, and they came like a swarm of mosquitos. I got such a kick at watching them land and feed, dive bomb each other, and do acrobatic maneuvers.

Well, three days ago and all of a sudden, that swarm turned into a trickle here in northern Tennessee, with just maybe a dozen or so visiting the feeder. Guess they are headed south now, and I don’t want to leave the feeder in cold weather. I understand that some may stay for the sugar water and may freeze to death?

A Humming Birds brain can be no larger than a pea, yet after two years, they remember exactly where that feeder was, and came hundreds or maybe thousands of miles away to that exact location? Talk about memory and GPS. It took the wife three years to find our local Walmart without using the GPS. 

Yawl (forced Tennessee accent) put up feeders this year? They still around?

We have a good mix of bird species in our neighbour hood.

This morning when I looked out the kitchen window I saw three little brightly coloured European Finches perched on the tailgate of my Nissan 2000 truck. It gave me pause to think about the way birds keep close company with each other, hence the adage, "Birds of a feather flock together."

One finch turned to the others and together they flew away.

European Finches 

[Ray12614]

Michigan humming birds are basically gone. The weather has been very nice, yet, they instinctively know what time to leave before winter weather arrives. I am told they migrate south to Mexico. Not really sure if all of them go there or not.

[Dennis1209]

1 hour ago, Ray12614 said:

Michigan humming birds are basically gone. The weather has been very nice, yet, they instinctively know what time to leave before winter weather arrives. I am told they migrate south to Mexico. Not really sure if all of them go there or not.

That is my understanding also. I believe I read somewhere, some species of Humming Birds migrate deep into South America.

[Alive]

3 hours ago, Dennis1209 said:

That is my understanding also. I believe I read somewhere, some species of Humming Birds migrate deep into South America.

Me too also.

Ours are still here and having a blast in NE Oklahoma...wife always has at least 3 feeders out. They are fun to watch.

Trivia: for a week or so, there was a praying mantis hanging on the rod that holds a feeder, but it never got a bird. I figured either it was entertained or too big for its britches. I knocked it to the ground once and sure enuff--got back up there.

[missmuffet]

17 hours ago, Dennis1209 said:

These Humming Birds are amazing little critters. The past two summers I did not hang any Humming Bird feeders, too lazy. This spring sitting here at my computer, looking out my window, on several occasions a Humming Bird would hover at my window looking at me, then fly the eight feet where I always hung the feeder, hover a bit, then fly off.

This spring I put out a feeder, and they came like a swarm of mosquitos. I got such a kick at watching them land and feed, dive bomb each other, and do acrobatic maneuvers.

Well, three days ago and all of a sudden, that swarm turned into a trickle here in northern Tennessee, with just maybe a dozen or so visiting the feeder. Guess they are headed south now, and I don’t want to leave the feeder in cold weather. I understand that some may stay for the sugar water and may freeze to death?

A Humming Birds brain can be no larger than a pea, yet after two years, they remember exactly where that feeder was, and came hundreds or maybe thousands of miles away to that exact location? Talk about memory and GPS. It took the wife three years to find our local Walmart without using the GPS. 

Yawl (forced Tennessee accent) put up feeders this year? They still around?

I love humming birds. They are so cute. I usually hear them before I see them. The other day I had a red top on and one came over to me because they love red. It hovered very close and decided that nope I was not a flower. The brown ones are the females and the brightly colored ones are the males. 

[Starise]

We very small green hummingbirds here. Not sure what type they are. I have a few feeders set up.

I noticed they come around occasionally and check out the hibiscus on my porch and back patio. Most recently I was sitting out back in a chair and I seen something out of the corner of my eye. Initially I thought it was a large insect of some kind. I turned my head just in time to see a small green hummingbird in my rose bushed darting around.

I suspect they make regular runs here yet they seem scarce because a run might take 10 seconds or less and then they are gone and don't come back the same day. These are FAST little critters. If you blink you'll miss them.

I have seen wonderful pics of them locals get usually by having a camera on a tripod focused on places they show up using a fast shutter speed on a motion sensing shutter setup.

[Dennis1209]

3 hours ago, missmuffet said:

I love humming birds. They are so cute. I usually hear them before I see them. The other day I had a red top on and one came over to me because they love red. It hovered very close and decided that nope I was not a flower. The brown ones are the females and the brightly colored ones are the males. 

Yep, and if you are still, you can even be holding the feeder and they will land and feed. This year was great in more ways than one. Them little buggers always get that feeder swinging, and a little of the sugar water always drips down to my porch banister. In turn, that draws the ant's and bees. Absolutely no ant's or bees this year, go figure?

[missmuffet]

1 hour ago, Dennis1209 said:

Yep, and if you are still, you can even be holding the feeder and they will land and feed. This year was great in more ways than one. Them little buggers always get that feeder swinging, and a little of the sugar water always drips down to my porch banister. In turn, that draws the ant's and bees. Absolutely no ant's or bees this year, go figure?

I haven't seen a lot of ants this year but we had a huge bee hive that had to be destroyed on the house. 

[ayin jade]

There are at least 10 hummingbird species in Arizona. Folks come from around the world to ramsey canyon preserve because of the wildlife and hummingbirds there. One of the coolest interactions I ever had with one was a few years ago. Hummingbirds used to hang out near my front patio, buzzing around and sometimes having aerial dogfights. As I sat there watching them, in my bright colorful dress, one of them got inches away from my face and hovered for a minute. I assume it was checking to see if my dress was edible.