Hummingbirds

[JMJ Farms]

I never really ever pictured myself getting any kind of enjoyment out of watching hummingbirds (doesn't really seem macho/manly), let alone publicly posting it, but anyway I've been pretty much confined to my recliner for the last couple of days and TV gets old fast. Have a feeder right outside the living room window and I've been watching them for hours on end. I'm usually not home a lot during daylight. They are like tiny, lightning fast bullets and very territorial it seems. The males get to doing a dance that I guess is some kind of ritual to establish dominance. Idk. They feed all day long. Their metabolism must be through the roof. We have to fill up the feeder about every three days. I remember watching them as a kid at my grandmas and she would have several feeders and there would literally be twenty five or more at times. I've never seen that many at once since. Anything else they like besides sugar water?

 

[Jogeephus]

I enjoy watching them myself. Another thing you can do to attract them is to plant hummingbird friendly plants. I recently built a biergarten at the barn and am planning on landscaping it with a lot of hummingbird and butterfly friendly plants. Won't really see the benefits of the plantings till next year but have already attracted more butterflies than I've ever seen before so there is something to plant selection.

 

[Caustic Burno]

I never really ever pictured myself getting any kind of enjoyment out of watching hummingbirds (doesn't really seem macho/manly), let alone publicly posting it, but anyway I've been pretty much confined to my recliner for the last couple of days and TV gets old fast. Have a feeder right outside the living room window and I've been watching them for hours on end. I'm usually not home a lot during daylight. They are like tiny, lightning fast bullets and very territorial it seems. The males get to doing a dance that I guess is some kind of ritual to establish dominance. Idk. They feed all day long. Their metabolism must be through the roof. We have to fill up the feeder about every three days. I remember watching them as a kid at my grandmas and she would have several feeders and there would literally be twenty five or more at times. I've never seen that many at once since. Anything else they like besides sugar water?

They eat flies and knats as well .
We are on the migration path we literally have hundreds in the fall it's like watching NatGeo. They gather up here for about a week then one morning they are all gone.

 

[A.J.]

I'm always fascinated watching them. Amazing those little things can migrate as far as they do.

 

[JMJ Farms]

They really like firebush. It'll freeze but comes Back super quick each year

Is that the same as a firecracker bush?

 

[JMJ Farms]

They eat flies and knats as well .
We are on the migration path we literally have hundreds in the fall it's like watching NatGeo. They gather up here for about a week then one morning they are all gone.

I didn't know they ate gnats. I like them even more now.

 

[ga.prime]

They have incredibly quick reflexes. I saw one picking drops of water to drink out of the air from a lawn sprinkler.

 

[Caustic Burno]

They eat flies and knats as well .
We are on the migration path we literally have hundreds in the fall it's like watching NatGeo. They gather up here for about a week then one morning they are all gone.

I didn't know they ate gnats. I like them even more now.

"Insects: Small insects, larvae, insect eggs and spiders are critical food sources for hummingbirds. Insects provide the fat, protein and salts the birds cannot derive from nectar, and these are crucial nutritional components, especially for rapidly growing hatchlings. Hummingbirds may hunt insects in several ways, including gleaning or picking them from bark, flowers or leaves, hawking them in midair or plucking them from spider webs or sticky sap. To get the required amount of protein for a healthy diet, an adult hummingbird must eat several dozen insects each day. They will eat many more, however, if they need to regurgitate this nutritious food to hungry hatchlings, or if they are in the midst of a long migration."

 

[JMJ Farms]

They have incredibly quick reflexes. I saw one picking drops of water to drink out of the air from a lawn sprinkler.

That's pretty neat. Read once that if you install some form of a mister that they will fly through it. Not sure if it's to cool off, or drink, or maybe to bathe. Idk?

 

[Caustic Burno]

From a couple years ago they were gathering for migration. Forget the weather man once they start showing up in droves fall is here. We have people want to photograph the little syrup suckers from all over. You have to have real photographic equipment to get them flying back and forth from the trees by the hundreds.

 

[JMJ Farms]

https://youtu.be/b-YKW_W5RHE

That's pretty neat.

 

[Nesikep]

They LOVE horse chestnut flowers as well.. There's a big tree in town, and there's gotta be 50 of them in that tree and a million flowers.. but it's just one big neverending fight

One of my better pictures of the Rufus male

 

[haase]

Probably one of the most interesting birds there is,I have spent hours when they got stuck in my garage and they wouldn't fly up to get out, alot of people up here follow their migration path and make sure they're set with their feeders when they get there.

 

[cfpinz]

Mom usually has 3 or 4 dozen each summer, but this year she has less than a dozen. On a normal year, she goes through 4 or 5 feeder's worth of sugar water each day. She had one male that returned every year for 5 or more years, he was marked real peculiar and easily identified. Neat little creatures.

 

[backhoeboogie]

I never really ever pictured myself getting any kind of enjoyment out of watching hummingbirds (doesn't really seem macho/manly), let alone publicly posting it, but anyway I've been pretty much confined to my recliner for the last couple of days and TV gets old fast. Have a feeder right outside the living room window and I've been watching them for hours on end. I'm usually not home a lot during daylight. They are like tiny, lightning fast bullets and very territorial it seems. The males get to doing a dance that I guess is some kind of ritual to establish dominance. Idk. They feed all day long. Their metabolism must be through the roof. We have to fill up the feeder about every three days. I remember watching them as a kid at my grandmas and she would have several feeders and there would literally be twenty five or more at times. I've never seen that many at once since. Anything else they like besides sugar water?

We've been feeding for a dozen or so years now. I read up on their diets in the last few years and like Caustic said, I am amused at their consumption of small insects. It was 113 degrees here over the weekend. We had misters blowing for the chickens and we also had one on the outside A/C unit. That mister is close to one of out feeders. The hummingbirds were in and out of that mist most of the day.

In the spring we have dozens. Then about ten or so take up residence for the summer. Late summer the migrants will bombard us for a few days again as they head south. It seems the longer you use feeders, the more important you become during migration periods.

They eat mosquitoes and gnats so they are welcome around my place.