Hummingbirds!

[Alex Nieuwland]

One of the small pleasures in life is seeing hummingbirds.

Here is some GoPro footage of 3 hummingbirds competing for the same hummingbird feeder. It has 3 refueling ports, but they are not at all interested in sharing. At 0:09 you can actually hear two of them making contact in mid-flight.


https://vimeo.com/133302395

[Alex Nieuwland]

Link for mobile users: https://vimeo.com/133302395

[Shotgunwillie]

It's nice to see someone else who actually enjoys this.

My grandparents have always had hummingbird feeders right outside the window by the kitchen table. At there new place there are over a dozen that come in to fight over the food. It's mesmerizing to watch.

[ZeroTA]

Just now saw this! Ha! At :09 I heard, "Beat it, nerd!" :laugh:

We have several feeders on our property, hummingbird and others. Along with deer, turkey, squirrels (so many squirrels), raccoons, groundhogs, possum, snakes, and the occasional coyote! I like to sit on my deck with coffee or a beer and just watch. God's Creation is wondrous. Nature goes on without you, you're just along for the ride.

[Ted Demosthenes]

I'm impressed that the ones who land and refuel for quite some time can get airborne with what seems like "a full bag" of fuel!
Thanks Alex.

[TACC]

What did you put into your feeder exactly, I have heard of some people putting in a formula of Sugar water.

[eldon54]

Don't think I've ever seen one without its wings moving. Great video.

[Forklift]

Thanks, that's really something to watch them. I have a feeder right off my back deck, the wife loves to sit and watch them. I didn't realize they can be so territorial.

[JD Lester]

My XO got beeped at this morning that the feeder was low on fuel when she took the interior guard dog out.

v/r

JD

[thewolverine]

http://www.food.com/recipe/hummingbird-food-254206?photo=332490

I have always used this- it works in Colorado

[Trench]

Sure they are interesting.

But did anyone notice which ones were carrying? :silly:

[Alex Nieuwland]

http://www.food.com/recipe/hummingbird-food-254206?photo=332490

I have always used this- it works in Colorado

I started out with a commercially produced red syrup, but it had some additional ingredients that are definitely not found in flower nectar, so I switched to the recipe above. Works great. I make 2 cups at a time and keep the excess in the fridge.

Recently, the hardest thing has been keeping the large ants that have discovered the feeder out of it. The "ant moat" on top of the feeder needs to be refilled every day with regular water. I'm planning on making a larger volume ant moat and hanging the feeder from that.

[Alex Nieuwland]

Thanks, that's really something to watch them. I have a feeder right off my back deck, the wife loves to sit and watch them. I didn't realize they can be so territorial.

Yesterday, my feeder was the scene of an epic aerial battle between 5 hummingbirds. You can do some amazing things if you can fly and hover! Lots of getting off the X in three dimensions. It's really difficult to get even a sip if there are 4 others bothering you! They seem to have moved on/agreed to a truce today.

[mntmark]

Right now I'm going through 40 ounces of sugar water a day. Up to about 20 hummingbirds battling for supremacy in the mornings and evenings. CO mtn hummers are crazed.

[barnetmill]

This is great thread because it may be useful to me. I am setting up gardens and orchards. I have read that humming birds are great insect eaters besides going after nectar. I need to find out if hummingbirds will go after bees. I hope not. If not I will set up multiple feeders. Fruit is worth more if it is not bitten up. Some of the worse insect like the spotted leaf hoppers are way too big, but there are others I am sure that they can eat.
There is another critical food source for the hummers. Essential vitamins, minerals, amino acids, proteins, oils and fats, fiber, etc. all come from the insects they eagerly consume, not the nectar. Their preferred insects include, but are not limited to: small beetles, true bugs, weevils, flies, gnats, mosquitoes, aphids, mites, leafhoppers, flying ants, and parasitic wasps. Their favorite insect food source is the spider and harvestmen (daddy long legs). Some ornithologists estimate that spiders are between 60% and 80% of their diet. http://wildbirdsonline.com/articles_hummingbirds_eating_insects.html

[M1A's r Best]

Wearing bright yellow shirts can get you a close exam from one if you're sitting still outside.

You can walk over and stand close, within a couple feet, by the feeder and in a few minutes they'll come in a feed if you are still and don't talk. You can have them right up close where you can see the details. I do wear glasses if I get that close.

One time, at home, I was working in the garden when I saw one hanging upside down on the fence. Wings spread wide as it relaxed in death but the feet still held the fence. I gently pulled it off the fence wire and took it to my mom and they put it in a jar and then into the freezer. She had it for many years and would show it to visitors.

A few years back they showed up too early one summer and that is the only time I've seen hummingbirds flying around and feeding in the snow. It was pretty wild watching them buzz around amid the falling white flakes and cold temps. Within a couple days it warmed up and their life went on as usual.

[lefty60]

Thanks for this thread. I've always thought that those hyper little birds were cool critters. Now I've been educated about them, did not know that they "talked" or were "meat eaters," now I'm even more impressed! :biggrin:

[LittleBill]

Yesterday, my feeder was the scene of an epic aerial battle between 5 hummingbirds. You can do some amazing things if you can fly and hover! Lots of getting off the X in three dimensions. It's really difficult to get even a sip if there are 4 others bothering you! They seem to have moved on/agreed to a truce today.

At my sister's house in UT, several varieties showed up to a feeder I hung just outside a pair of French doors, which I kept open so I could watch them. After a while, they'd venture partway into the room, and just hang there for a few seconds, 'staring' at me, checking me out... or so it seemed... then buzz back out again. Very cool.

And yeah: these guys are very territorial! For a long time, there was one dominant hummer who hung around and chased away any others that tried to come near the feeder. Then, after a while, the other hummers seemed to have developed a strategy: they started showing up in groups-- so that when the 'guard bird' was chasing one away, the rest could feed...

I also read that hummers have been observed making their nests near the nest of a hawk. The hawks apparently don't eat the hummers-- like some birds do-- and provide protection for the hummers, since other birds tend to avoid hawk nests. So they're smart little buggers...

Another amazing thing about them: each fall they migrate down to Mexico; then come back in the spring, somehow finding the exact same spot each year.

OTOH: when I moved the feeder from the front of the house to the back, it took 'em almost a month to find it...

[LittleBill]

I started out with a commercially produced red syrup, but it had some additional ingredients that are definitely not found in flower nectar, so I switched to the recipe above. Works great. I make 2 cups at a time and keep the excess in the fridge.

Recently, the hardest thing has been keeping the large ants that have discovered the feeder out of it. The "ant moat" on top of the feeder needs to be refilled every day with regular water. I'm planning on making a larger volume ant moat and hanging the feeder from that.

+ 1 on the 4 c. water, 1 c. sugar, boiled and cooled: works great, they love it.

I've also noticed that when the yellowjackets started hanging around the feeder, they (the yellowjackets) seemed to be successfully chasing away the hummers...

Seems like whoever/whatever/wherever you are, life is always a fight... and that 'tiny but fierce' sometimes triumphs over 'big but cautious'...

[Rex G]

I love hummingbirds. Now that we have decided to stay put, at our present address, for a while, I am starting to research which shrubs and tree to add, to attract more of them. (Not that feeders are a bad idea.)