Gry
Well-known member
Have similar issues here, the only time it feels like there is an abundance here is in the Spring when there are lots of the little ones flitting around.
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anyone into hummingbirds?
- Thread starter armedoldhippy
- Start date
Have similar issues here, the only time it feels like there is an abundance here is in the Spring when there are lots of the little ones flitting around.
i've seen little feeders that clip to the bill of a cap. sit still, and the fearless little SOBs will fly right up in your face. one guy i watched had one poke him in the eye, lol...
Gry
Well-known member
Would imagine it is easily done in areas like this where the birds stay year round.
Can see how it would be relatively easy to get them started with something like a feeder on a hat.
Once they had the pattern down, others would catch on, and they would teach the young, which
is I suppose is how some are able to get them lining up to feed with such arrangements .
Often used to wonder if the migratory birds that I would see each year were the same from years
prior.
do honeybees, yellowjackets etc come to your feeders, Gry? i have 1 or 2 feeders that they seem to really prefer. fun sometimes to watch them & the birds dispute feeding rights...
Gry
Well-known member
No, not at all, and yet I have quite a few of them here. There are a lot of jade plants, and the bees are attracted to them.
That is where one can find preying mantis that are there to take advantage of the abundance of bees. Lot of citrus plants in the area, and the bees do well with them I would imagine.
Only thing that seems to go after the feeders are tiny little ants, feeder has a dam, which keeps them off.
That is where one can find preying mantis that are there to take advantage of the abundance of bees. Lot of citrus plants in the area, and the bees do well with them I would imagine.
Only thing that seems to go after the feeders are tiny little ants, feeder has a dam, which keeps them off.
dang yellowjackets & honeybees swarmed me the other day. birds could not eat at all. put the bees out a much simpler dining spot about 50' away, problem solved. sort of, lol. i added some Gatorade (because i HATE that flavor) to the bee feast and the crazy birds were trying to get to the bees plate feeder. i guess the red of the GA drew them in...odd, when bees finished off what i put out, they disappeared. damn few come to bird feeders now...cool!
the migration picked up speed today. had more birds today than last 2 weeks put together. birds already on the move south aint taking any possessive shit from my resident birds. they gonna EAT...had two or three fights going for a long time, sometimes 3 birds to a quarrel. i've scattered my feeders around the yard hoping to lower the friction a mite, all of them being used.
i'm depressed. aint seen a hummingbird for two days. went on a birdwatching site that shows night-time radar screens showing shitpots of birds flowing south the past 2 nights along the Atlantic seaboard inland to just west of us, along the Cumberland Plateau. not much movement west of there along the Mississippi flyway or further west...yet.
St. Phatty
Active member
I see or HEAR hummingbirds all the time.
Often in the morning.
Well I think it's a hummingbird. Maybe it's a really hyper BIG moth.
Often in the morning.
Well I think it's a hummingbird. Maybe it's a really hyper BIG moth.
THREE days now...need to keep the feeder up until late Oct or early Nov, but changing the food every three or four days gets tedious if you're not seeing birds. at this stage, i'd take anything flying by to break monotony...blue jay, kestrel, fruit bats...
St. Phatty
Active member
Mostly I don't feed the hummingbirds. They like honey suckle and I guess some of the other flowers, like roses.
there is a breed of honeysuckle called "coral honeysuckle" that is native to eastern US. shit is BRIGHT red, hummers favorite color. supposedly non-invasive too, which is a plus.
chakras
Active member
If you feed them regularly, and it does not get too cold there, you will have swarms.
chakras
Active member
Don't give them that funky food dye sugar water!
i use recommended 4 to 1 sugar/water boiled and cooled. they ARE attracted to red, which is the color i paint feeders.
anyone seen any birds yet? the males should be coming through trying to stake out good territories any time now...
well please do not use red food coloring.
they do look for color to see how full feeder is.
what i do is freeze some water that i cooked beets in.
only takes a tsp or so is a good dye. i would think
they are ok with it. no dead ones lol.
so have a qt container of it in freezer for them.
when beets are harvested and i cook them.
then i save 2 qt's of the juice 1 for the birds.
other qt is for color when i make chinese
bbq pork. enjoy the hummer's there cool...
they do look for color to see how full feeder is.
what i do is freeze some water that i cooked beets in.
only takes a tsp or so is a good dye. i would think
they are ok with it. no dead ones lol.
so have a qt container of it in freezer for them.
when beets are harvested and i cook them.
then i save 2 qt's of the juice 1 for the birds.
other qt is for color when i make chinese
bbq pork. enjoy the hummer's there cool...
damn near July, and i have seen exactly ONE hummingbird. he did a drive-by at a friends empty feeder & continued north over the ridge. last year, my wife had a couple of flower pots full of red & gold stuff around my feeders, none yet this year though...
