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Post by gakaren on Feb 8, 2015 17:19:33 GMT -5
I have done this for several years now. I have actually gotten my location on the map twice by being first to report in my area. So, everyone that is in the area for ruby throats...keep your eyes peeled and report the first one you see, please. Even if someone else reported ahead of you, they use the info for research!
www.hummingbirds.net/map.html
Nothing on the map yet, but should be later this month starting down in Fl.! I usually get my first ones the first week in March! |
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Post by breezygardener on Feb 8, 2015 18:53:38 GMT -5
I've been keeping an Excel spreadsheet just for fun since 2008 entitled "Seasonal Firsts" where I list the first sightings & weather stuff for the season. It's both fun & interesting at the same time.
Since 2008, our Ruby Throats have consistently shown up around the same time the Rhododendrons start blooming. Depending on the weather, that's usually anywhere from May 1st onward. |
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Post by gakaren on Feb 9, 2015 22:25:13 GMT -5
I have gotten my first one as early as March 3 and as late as March 15! I hope I have more blooming than just that red honeysuckle by then!
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Post by Veggie Gal on Feb 20, 2015 13:22:49 GMT -5
Where I live we have hummingbirds all year. I recently read that another hummingbird not usually seen in So. CAL, has been identified. They are a more aggressive hummer than our native. Then I realized I was right, I saw 2 different types and one was really aggressive and trying to chase the other away. In fact 2 of the same hummers seem to fly together to chase the other species out of my yard. Aggressive hummers, that makes me laugh. They are so fragile looking...
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Post by brownrexx on Feb 20, 2015 14:03:50 GMT -5
They really are aggressive for their size. We hang hummingbird feeders on the deck at our cabin and then when we sit outside we can watch them up close. They go after each other at top speed and they chirp at each other. Once in a while two of them crash into each other and then keep going. We usually put out 2 feeders with 4 feeding ports each but they still fight if another one even gets close.
We have to take the feeders down when we leave to come home because the bears like to drink sugar water and they destroy the feeders. Before I figured this out I found one of my feeders on the ground punctured with 2 big tooth holes. |
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Post by gakaren on Feb 20, 2015 15:13:13 GMT -5
I've seen a video in the past that was in slow motion of hummers "fighting". They can and do actually do damage to each other some times. We have also had some that were escaping from the feisty ones that flew right into our porch posts....they will lay on the ground for a minute or so and then they are up and on their way again. Some times it doesn't even phase them and they just keep going.
Had what I think was a juvie one year that must have just been learning to fly. It flew into one of the hour glass feeders on the glass part and just sort of slid down to the plastic area and just stayed there for what seemed like a long time. Never did eat, but finally flew away. And in case you didn't know, when the babies leave the nest...they are GONE. From everything I've read, they won't ever return to the nest like other juvies. And Mama doesn't feed them any more either. |
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Post by gakaren on Feb 25, 2015 15:13:47 GMT -5
The first have appeared on the map!!!!!!!!!!!!! La. and Fl.....so it won't be long now that they move up steadily nearly ever day! Any of you in the way down south...get those feeders filled and out so they have something to sustain their energy when they hit your area!!! I'll do my feeders tomorrow since we are having pouring rain right now! |
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Post by gakaren on Feb 26, 2015 22:19:12 GMT -5
More! And the latest one looks to be directly south of me...50-60 mi. south!
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Post by desertwoman on Feb 26, 2015 23:11:38 GMT -5
We won't see hummers here until mid to late April.
I stopped putting out feeders for them because they got so aggressive around them.
Now I just plant for the hummers and I don't see the aggression. I like to think I am helping them not get injured.
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Post by davidjp on Feb 27, 2015 16:18:15 GMT -5
At the moment we've got a couple of species, the red rufous ones have been here for nearly a month I guess on their way up north. The Anna's we have all year round but definitely drops down over winter to just maybe half a dozen. In summer we get black chinned but we lose the rufous, although we might also be starting to get some Allen mixed in which are really almost identical to the rufous.
I know how aggressive they can be and for a long time I used to post feeders on different spots out of sight of each other to try and avoid direct competition. But a while back I noticed a neighbour we had, used to line up her feeders all in a row, she had about 6-10 feeders going. The thing I noticed from that was just how many birds she had, almost like a cloud of hummingbirds and was really quite a sight. I tried for ages to adjust my sugar recipe thinking I could lure them away or at least some of them. But I think the main reason she had so many is that she'd created a super hotspot for feeding and there were so many there that they'd given up fighting each other as it was just impossible. So it just became a sort of UN for hummingbirds.
So now I actually do a mix, clumping quite a few feeders together and a few on different sides of the house. The row of feeders actually seems to get less fighting than my single feeders but I still haven't got the numbers she had. That and loading up on salvia and other plants that they like visiting.
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Post by gakaren on Feb 27, 2015 21:50:37 GMT -5
My main draw for them is my red honeysuckle. I've tried salvias and they attract a tiny furry little critter that I thought were white aphids, but they are something else. They are a royal pain to try to get rid of and spread once they kill the salvias. So I've had to give those up at least for now. But I also have wisteria, bottle bush, clematis, hyacinth bean vines, cone flowers, zinnias and a few other that they like. But they love that red honeysuckle.
David, you should have plenty of citrus blooms for them in your area. |
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Post by desertwoman on Feb 27, 2015 22:35:53 GMT -5
David, maybe she has so many feeders, they all just get drunk on the nectar and aggression be dam*. ;)
The big draws here are the honeysuckle, trumpet vine, agastache (hummingbird mint),
also penstemon, monarda (bee balm), columbine, kniphofia (red hot poker), buddleia (butterfly bush), scabiosa (pin cushion flower), lilies, day lilies, larkspur, catmint, hostas. Sometimes they'll hit the cosmos and echinacea too.
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Post by gakaren on Mar 1, 2015 14:53:13 GMT -5
DW, I have found something interesting here on with our ruby throats. They don't seem to go to my red hot pokers. Also, they don't do "baths" like some of the species ya'al have out west. Ours will fly through a sprinkler or when it's raining, but I've never seen them get into a water fountain like some other western gals have posted in the past.
I forgot about my columbines and I have a native one that has a bloom stem up already. It has a red/yellow flower on it. My larkspurs are growing but it will be awhile before they bloom yet. I have all the others you mentioned to except the pin cushion flower. I gave up on it, it just didn't do well with our prolonged heat. I'll also have Stokesias when they bloom and iris and azaleas. And I "think" I've seen them go up into the Brugmansia blooms (aka angel trumpet). |
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Post by davidjp on Mar 1, 2015 17:39:23 GMT -5
My main draw for them is my red honeysuckle. I've tried salvias and they attract a tiny furry little critter that I thought were white aphids, but they are something else. They are a royal pain to try to get rid of and spread once they kill the salvias. So I've had to give those up at least for now. But I also have wisteria, bottle bush, clematis, hyacinth bean vines, cone flowers, zinnias and a few other that they like. But they love that red honeysuckle.
David, you should have plenty of citrus blooms for them in your area. For some reason I don't see hummingbirds on citrus blooms much, although to be honest maybe I haven't been paying enough attention. There's certainly loads around at the moment and the scent can be quite heavy especially in the evening when you walk thru a grove.
Definitely been seeing the rufous ones about which I think are pretty similar to your ruby throated. Its a pity they don't stay for the summer here as they are really pretty.
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Post by gakaren on Mar 16, 2015 21:35:12 GMT -5
I forgot to post here (I belong to too many boards)....
WE GOT OUR FIRST HUMMER ON MARCH 12 AND MY LOCATION GOT ON THE MAP WITH THAT DATE....look for the 3/12 in S.W.Ga.! |
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