Hummingbirds

[lakegirl]

I just put out my hummingbird feeder (on saturday) and it was empty by monday??? Is this normal??? I checked to see if it was leaking.... I couldn't find any leaks. :confused:

[Pepper]

It's possible you've got some hungry orioles in addition to your hummingbirds. Take a peek and see if any of the openings on the feeder have been "widened" somewhat. It's also possible that another type of critter has gotten access to the feeder, and drank it dry. I've seen bears, racoons, and squirrels all figure out how to do this.

Of course, it's still entirely possible that the hummingbirds have returned in huge numbers and are extremely hungry after their trip.

Keep us posted with what you see hanging around the feeder!

[upthesaukee]

Funny, I was thinking about the hummingbirds the other day, and remembering my Mom's adage: Have the feeders up by Mother's Day. Within a day or two of Mother's Day, we'd see the hummer's!

I did have a bear get to my bird feeders the other night (empty) but not taken in. He (she) bent the wrought iron stand over like it was a coat hanger!!! I feel good, though, 'cause I straightened it up! Strong like bear!!!!!:D

I will get more seed, and put them out, but will have to bring them in each night. Love the goldfinch, purple & house finches, grosbeaks, cardinals, etc.

[frank m.]

Bridgette,
Just had three male hummers fighting to get at my feeder.
Frank

[upthesaukee]

Got the hummingbird feeders out last week, and we've had a couple of females at them starting Mon evening (at least the first sighting was then). Good Job, Mom!!!!!! (she always loved the hummingbirds).

[SIKSUKR]

I know I'm a little late installing this but is there a prefered location to mount my hummingbird feeder.Near or away from the house,north or south exposure,near other vegetation or out in an area by itself?Thanks for any help. SS

[upthesaukee]

We have ours right outside our large picture type windows, and they do not seem to matter who is moving in the house. Drives our two cats nuts, and sometimes it seems the hummingbirds will deliberately taunt the cats once they realize the cats can't harm them! :D

[SIKSUKR]

Thanks UP I'm going to hang mine tomorrow. SS

[Rattlesnake Gal]

Saturday when we arrived, the humming bird dive-bombed me to let me know he was here and hungry. Within thirty seconds of hanging the feeder the bird was back. He (I think) sat down for almost five minutes taking sip after sip. It will be interesting to see how much nectar is left after a week.

[Lake Lady 6]

Haven't seen any hummingbirds as yet but just put the feeder up today. We have had a pair of rose breasted grosbeaks, a pair of cardinals and a pair of orioles along with the usual chickadees and finches. The birds are entertaining and colorful. The tree swallows have been scouting out their usual birdhouse and will be nesting soon.
Last night some critter pulled the electric birdfeeder down and bent the rod that hangs from the tree limb. Ate 2 lbs. of seed. Maybe a deer, raccoon or bear but seems late for bear problems. Also the rubbish barrel was not disturbed which is a usual target for a raccoon. We haven't seen any racoons for many years in the area.
Anyone else having problems with their feeders?

[DRH]

Anyone else having problems with their feeders?
Our next door neighbor had two bird feeders destroyed this past Friday night. One was hanging on a 6' high heavy steel pole secured in the ground, and the pole was bent all the way down to the ground and the feeder was mangled. The second feeder was hanging on a tree bracket, and it was ripped off the tree. They assume a black bear paid them a visit.

[upthesaukee]

...and that is when they are hibernating. Bear habitat is being constantly invaded, and is making them come into habited areas more and more. They have got to my feeders twice in the last six months- once at the start of winter and once in early April. Deer generally would not bend over a pole, except for the most slender of poles. Ditto for raccoons, unless you have one of those rare 200 lbs Giant Raccoons (genus biggus masked varmitius) visit.;)

[Island Girl]

RG, You had better put that feeder up high. A black bear took down a feeder last night on the NW part of the island.

[Rattlesnake Gal]

Bears? Oh, my! :eek:
We suspected there was a bear in residence on the island. This past winter, something tore down some insulation under the camp. It seemed a bit too high up for a raccoon to have reached it because it is four feet off the ground. Thankfully it didn't get in!

[Merrymeeting]

Am I correct in assuming that hummingbirds return to the same place each year?

Like RG, we had birds feeding no more than 10 minutes after I put the feeder up on Saturday. I can't imagine new ones would find it that quickly and assume it has to be ones that remember from last year?

[Lake Lady 6]

DRH, we are in your area and it was Friday night that our feeder was "attacked". Saturday morning I looked over at my neighbors and his metal ground sleeve was bent almost in half & his metal feeder almost to the ground.
When I checked with my husband about the seed that was in ours he said all two lbs. had disappeared - not just spilled and left. That tells us it must have been a bear.
Left the spotlight on the past two nights and no visitors. Will have to take the feeder down for a while which is a shame as so many birds are visiting.

[DRH]

Am I correct in assuming that hummingbirds return to the same place each year?

Like RG, we had birds feeding no more than 10 minutes after I put the feeder up on Saturday. I can't imagine new ones would find it that quickly and assume it has to be ones that remember from last year?
I am convinced the little hummers do, indeed, remember where their food supply has been located in previous years. Whenever they return here in the spring before we have put our feeders out, we see them hovering around the places where the feeders go. We usually put out three feeders and they seem to remember where each feeder was the previous year. As you experienced, as soon as we hang the feeders back up the little hummers appear almost immediately.

[Lake Lady 6]

The Baltimore Oriole (or Northern Oriole) will drink the hummingbird feeder dry. I asked at the "bird store" the reason for this and was told that the hummingbird nectar is sweeter than the oranges we put out for the orioles.
Also if the feeder is placed where it can be blown by the wind it will spill out.

[upthesaukee]

I also agree with the memory of hummingbirds. We have had them come to the "wire and hook" where we hang the feeders and just hover there just like the feeders were out, flit back and forth a little as if to say " come out, come out whereever you are!!!!" and then fly off. Even if it takes us a few days to get the feeders out, they will do the same thing until they are up, and yes, it only takes literally a few minutes before one is at the feeders. In a word: Remarkable!


Bears: If the bears are a problem, and you live here year round or are at least up here full time now, you can put out your feeders in the morning, and take them in at dark. The bears will not generally be around during the day, and you can therefore enjoy your birds and not have the latest in pretzel lawn ornaments in the morning! :) It's a pain, but at least you will still have the birds.
For those who don't live up here full time, invest in one of those motion detector machine guns from Cabelas or Bass Pro Shops ($899) and get even with those fuzzy dudes! :laugh:

[Zee]

Hummers return to the same areas from one year to the next as do the off-spring. We hang a feeder in our kitchen window and a couple of years we were late in getting the feeders up. A hummer came to the window and hovered where the chain and hook are left. I was behind the glass but the sun was shining so he couldn't see me. It was our reminder and it worked. The feeders were up within a half hour. A few years ago I had a close encounter when I was on a step ladder hanging the feeder up for the start of the year. A male hummer came straight toward me at breakneck speed. I was so startled, I fell off the ladder. He hovered around until I picked myself up and left the area. We had another incident when a hummer hit one of our windows. The bird was stunned on the ground. I picked it up, cupped in my hand (they are smaller than you think). I opened my hand to check it and it did not fly away for a few minutes. When it did, it flew to the nearest tree branch and recovered for 15 or so minutes then flew away.

[Rattlesnake Gal]

I am quite sure that the bear made a visit to our hummingbird feeder. It was completely empty and a couple of the perches were off. Rattlesnake Guy agreed that something had to have pulled them off. If the feeder is tipped the nectar just runs out in a stream, so the missing perches would have left room for a sip. There was some light scratches on the plastic with the missing perches were, around the raised flower that the birds drink from. They weren’t there when I cleaned it and hung it up last Saturday. Also there were new scratches on the deck below the feeder, but nothing noticeable anywhere else. The way I hung the feeder made it not come off when pulled. Thankfully it just drank and left everything in tact. A polite bear, this time anyway. We’ll have to figure out some way to bear-proof the feeder to leave it out for when we are not at the lake.
What else do we need to know about living with bears? Obviously, don’t leave food around, especially at night in a tent. I think the mulch pile will be a bad idea this year. Darn it.
Where do bears go during the day? Under trees? Caves? I have no idea.

[upthesaukee]

RG, depending on which end of the Island the bear is located at, it may go to Jo Green's in Wolfeboro or Waldo Pepper's in Laconia for lunch...:rolleye1:

Seriously, they may "den up" in a cave or in the middle of a pile of old logs, or they may just get into a thicket. If they do not feel threatened, they may very well sit down in the thicket even with humans around. Black bear would not be considered "dangerous" except if cornered (like under a camp, in a shed, etc.) or if it's a mother with cubs.
Here's a link I picked up by "Googling" 'living with bears' from your post. there are a lot of links.

http://www.mountainnature.com/Wildlife/Bears/BearGuideForLocals.htm

[ApS]

Bears? Oh, my! :eek:
We suspected there was a bear in residence on the island. This past winter, something tore down some insulation under the camp. It seemed a bit too high up for a raccoon to have reached it because it is four feet off the ground. Thankfully it didn't get in!

I recall a Pennsylvania Fish & Game official noted that the latticework to his front porch needed re-adjusting one Autumn, but put off the repair until the snow had melted.

Imagine his surprise when finally he went to repair the lattice, and saw a large, dark, furry object behind it!

His job with Pennsylvania Fish & Game?

To inventory Pennsylvania's black bear population! :emb:


.

[ApS]

A neighbor was telling me of a hummingbird/bumble bee confrontation at her feeder.

They always end the same way -- but not the way you'd expect. Anybody else notice?

Just this morning, I received this hummingbird URL by e-mail from a different neighbor: http://community-2.webtv.net/Velpics/HUM/

Here's the last picture, just to remind the viewer about where it happened:

[SIKSUKR]

APC,your usually up on these things so I'll ask you.Last night I saw my first Hummingbird at my house in southern NH.It was buzzing around a 30 foot treetop and the question came up,where do hummingbirds usually nest.I thought it would be unusual for them to be on top of the tree with them being so small but I really have no idea.

[upthesaukee]

Here's some info for you:

HABITATS: Natural or garden areas that provide trees, bushes, flowers rich with nector and safe places to roost and nest. Typically they will NOT be found at s eashores unless migrating, grasslands, treeless sage areas.


Source: http://www.mschloe.com/hummer/huminfo.htm

Some more info:

Welcome to the nesting season, folks. I'll discuss Ruby-throats in particular, but similar principles probably apply to most other species. Shortly after arriving, the females establish a nesting territory. Ruby-throats prefer secluded wetlands for nesting, if available, and proximity to your feeder is not an issue; in fact, females don't like to build nests in a male's feeding territory, and your feeder is probably part of one. Visits to distant feeders take too much time away from the eggs. When the chicks hatch, they need protein to grow, not sugar, so their mother spends most of her time catching small insects and spiders for them.

Source: http://www.hummingbirds.net/about.html#where

SS: Two nice websites that have some nice info on our little feathered friends.

Enjoy them!! (the sites and the birds! :) )

[SIKSUKR]

Thanks UP,good info on those links.I still couldn't see where,elevation wise in a tree they might nest.I would guess that with the mention of wet bushy areas also mentioned,that they would generally nest lower to the ground.

[ApS]

I visited a website that stated a ruby-throated hummingbird will nest between 6 and 50 feet from the ground. :look:

http://www.rubythroat.org/RTHUReproductionMain.html#anchor2360946

(I believe Mee&Mac has stated that the only documented hummingbird nests are about 7 feet off the ground, or at camera-lens height). :D

We have a relatively short breeding season for them here, so the bird you saw was probably seeking spiders and web-trapped insects to feed her young. (It's a bit late for a second nest -- or brood).

I "keep" dead trees standing, and see the hummingbirds every day, poking among the dead twigs 40 - 50 feet above the ground for food. Baby hummingbirds can't grow without the protein in insect food.

Adult hummingbirds will "bulk-up" with nectar before crossing the Gulf of Mexico to fly to the Yucatán. (If "bulking-up" is the right word for a hummingbird).

[SIKSUKR]

Thanks for the info APC.I knew would have something I could sink my beak into.

[ApS]

Here's a story regarding bumblebee inter-reaction at the feeder. (Usually, the hummingbird just pokes at the bumblebee with its beak 'til it bumbles away).

In southern Georgia, Janis Abney was relaxing in her backyard on 26 August 2002 when she saw a Ruby-throated Hummingbird (either a female or young male) acting oddly in the vicinity of her hummer feeder. She looked more closely and found that the bird had a large bumblebee impaled on its bill. The bird apparently had been in this predicament for some time because it was weak enough that Janis's husband Monty was able to slowly walk up to the bird and capture it by hand. He removed the bee (with a surprising amount of difficulty), but the bird appeared to have expired during the process. Monty examined it more carefully and detected some faint signs of life; not knowing what else to do, he did just the right thing by sticking the bird's bill into the hummingbird feeder. The bird's tongue started to move slowly, and soon the hummingbird was drinking avidly. After several minutes, it was "recharged," and the Abneys let the hummer go, apparently none the worse for wear. Photo courtesy Mark Abney and Clyde Soresnson.

http://www.rubythroat.org/GalleryRoom10.html

Here's a hummingbird baby. The egg is ½" long!

[trfour]

http://community.webtv.net/hotmail.com/verle33/HummingBirdNest

[JL Girl]

Re-reading this thread, I had wondered too if hummingbirds return to flowers they "sipped" from the year before. I have a second story deck with flower pots - and in the corner last year, I had a red hanging plant (although not hanging, just placed on a three legged flower stand.) The red plant was a million bells (super bells) - basically a smaller petunia plant. Last year, I was fascinated by the fact that a hummingbird flew up to the second story, then by the joy he seemed to take from this particular plant. He would go to other plants on the deck (even other million bells in other colors) but only hover for a second and it was back to the red one. He'd come about the same time every day - very early evening. I saw him once land and stay on the curved handle of the pot (which I never thought they did - i.e., land). Anyway, I bought another plant for this year and have been watching in vain until this Sunday when he came again, putting his beak into every single flower (and there's lots and lots on this plant). I was just delighted. Dontcha get amazed at how wonderful nature is and the simple pleasure one gets from watching one of its most beautiful, delicate creatures?