Posted on 03/14/2011 8:33:06 AM PDT by SMARTY
Awesome! The only time I had that experience was in St. Maartens. They would feed on the table flowers during a meal.
I have many feeders in my back yard thicket. They come around after many of the Finch and winter birds leave in late Spring. Too much activity for them I guess. I must have a hundred birds roosting in that thicket. It is quite a site early in the morning and evenings.
The hummingbirds at my house are quite picky.
They will only drink good Single Malt Scotch or Single Barrel Kentucky Bourbon.
They are fun, but are a good study in welfare handouts. The more you feed them, the more will come. Eventually they will ues up two containers per day. They will not like it if you try to cut back on their goodies.
;-) Great reply.
And another note, especially here in southern Arizona...
Bats love the nectar. It won’t be unusual to see them feeding in the early evening.
My location is a bit far from their feeding grounds. We have many creeks and tributaries they hang around with many varieties of wild flowers, air plants and wild orchids to feed on. You aren’t the first to tell me once hummingbirds find a good source of syrup they tell their friends and park.
4:1 ratio of water to sugar. Food coloring is optional since the bright color of the feeder will likely attract the h’birds anyway. I’ve been told (but haven’t confirmed) that a water:sugar ratio of less than 4:1 is a sugar overload and can potentially harm the h’birds liver. Stick with 4:1. I don’t boil my water either. Mix the sugar with cold, warm or hot water and stir until dissolved. Keep any excess in the refrigerator.
OK! What if I put some red pop.... not the diet stuff. Let it go flat and put it into the feeder? I read that the color red attracts the birds.
Just remember, keep it low enough to the ground and it doubles as a cat feeder, too.
Here in Kentucky we have to have our feeders out by Derby Day. They find their feeding routes before then, and if you don’t, they will pass you by all summer.
Hummingbirds?
Not shy in our backyard. They drain our large feeder in a few days. About four of them have a daily dogfight over control for the feeder while I stand out on the patio. I can even handle the feeder while they are feeding.
No, no color whatsoever. Studies show that coloring does nothing to attract the birds. Anyway, the feeders are usually designed to do the attracting.
That’s terrific!
>>Very shy, be patient.<<
HAHAHA! It must depend on where you live. At our farm in KY we added food to our feeders when we were there for a week. Within two days they were swarming around that feeder like bees. One of them would perch on a power line and spar with others, but we still had six there at one time.
And I stood within a foot of it, my eye level about two inches above the bar they would perch on. They would buzz around my head, fighting with each other, occasionally smacking my hair with their wings. And they would eat right in front of me, sometimes hovering, and sometimes perched. It was absolutely amazing. I could stand their and study their colors, beak, tongue motion, everything, within a foot.
They don’t seem tohave much fear of me. Its like they look at me and say, Yeah you’ll catch me, Right!.
Well guys, I’m jealous. My feeders are set up now for songbirds, finch, painted bunting (and spouses), red headed wood peckers, red bellied woodpeckers, bluejays, carolina wrens, brown thatchers, various warblers and of course this brings in mourning dove, then red winged hawks and other predators. Maybe I should just feed the hummingbirds. It’s quite the Animal Kingdom around here on who’s the fittest!
Although, I am very pleased that the Painted Bunting came back this year. It’s like having miniature parrots in your yard! Stunning!
He has always been a great source of info for me. You might have to do more googling but it will be worth it.
The only problem I've had with him...well he's an enviro guy...sigh...is that recently he gave away a stick to the window hummer feeder.
That seems like a bad idea to me.
Keep meaning to ask him about that.
I don't have the link handy but did you know there is a website where you can track the hummer migration?
Mrs p6 and I love to watch hummers! Last year we couldn't because we moved to an apartment. This year even though it's an apartment we are settled in and look forward to putting up several feeders.
I use about a cup and a half of sugar, red food coloring and water.
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