I live in the Portland metro area and we have just seen the end of a major weather event. We had 12 days of below freezing weather. High temps for 12 days in a row were 25 to 27 degrees. Not to mention the 2 feet of snow. This is very unusual weather for us. Normal winter weather for us is one or two day in a row below freezing once or twice a year and maybe a dusting of snow.

This part of the country has lots of Annas that winter over. As I understand it, the birds take advantage of feeders and stake out breeding territories instead of migrating. Man-made as it is this gives the bird that winters over, fed by a feeder, a breeding advantage. That bird breeds more and reproduces birds that in turn dont migrate but winter over, fed by feeders and so on and so on. Right or wrong the system seems to work for the Annas. That is until bad weather sets in and those folks that own the feeders cant be bothered by the extra work of keeping those feeders defrosted and this is what has brought me to a not very Merry Christmas.

Now that Ive set the stage for my story.I feed Annas year round, organic bug and nectar filled gardening in the spring/summer/fall and feeders in the winter. This year my family enjoyed watching the hummer lives of 5 males and a couple of females and their hatch. Come winter we still had 5 males with their territories clearly staked out and a few females. Each male owned one, two or three feeders depending on line of sight and boundaries that they had worked out themselves and we, humans and hummer settled down for winter. Then the bad weather hit us all. We changed out the sugar ratio according to the temp and my family took the extra time to bring feeders in at night. We made sure we had feeders warmed and back outside before first light and during the worst of the weather we took the time to replace each feeder several times a day with warmed sugar water. But our yard, resident males and feeders were invaded by a dozen or so additional birds, mostly males. I believe these birds came from the surrounding areas where they had staked out territories but the people who owed the feeders did not take the time to keep them defrosted during this streak of bad weather.

During the last three days I found two dead young male Annas on top the snow in my yard. I wonder how many more fell dead because people hung feeders but did not take the time to maintain them.

Thank you for letting me vent. I know you who read this are not those people but you will understand how I feel. I wish that if people dont have the time to care for feeders that they would take them down in the late summer or early fall. I read lots of places on Hummingbird info sight were it is printed, Dont worry if your feeder runs dry and so on because the birds have many different feeders that they visit daily. For Annas in bad weather this is not true. The males in my yard guarded their feeders and visited no others for 12 days straight. The birds from other yards, the ones with frozen feeders, came to my yard and tried to feed and could not and then died.

The issue is not feeding birds right or wrong but if you feed you are responsible.

Thanks for listening and for caring for these wonderful little birds.

Kate

Kate, that is so sad. Yes, putting out feeders and maintaining them in adverse and unusual conditions is a commitment. Do you think writing to the local newspaper would get some information out there? Some people may have been so overwhelmed by the highly unusual conditions that they never thought of the humms. It would be helpful to bring it to their attention.

On the glass-half-full side, at least you have kept some alive to continue on. Your efforts and others' who maintain feeders in winter conditions are to be thanked. Bless you.

Be well.

LindaSkyview
Western NC mountains
Zone 6b - Sunset Zone 36 - Heat Zone 4,5,6

I'm so sorry, Kate. It is always sad to lose a hummingbird, no matter what the cause.

Unfortunately, I believe your unusually extreme weather was simply too much for those birds. I know of several cases in New England and the Northeast where warmed nectar and heat lamps were faithfully provided by their hosts, and despite their heroic efforts, their hummingbirds perished from the cold anyway. As I've said on other threads, I think what kills some wintering hummingbirds is not one cold night, but, rather an extended cold; where temps consistently stay below freezing for a high during the daytime and dipping into the teens or below at night for several days on end. These kinds of bitter cold snaps simply wear them down, sometimes beyond recovery even with available warm nectar and warming lights. I fear that this winter is going to take a heavy toll on many wintering hummers around the country, if this kind of weather continues. How sad.

Connie

Connie & Wilton Sale
218 Scarlett Drive
Chesapeake, VA 23322
757-482-4796
State and Federal Permits
WildLife Response, Inc.
NWRA, IWRC
Hummingbirds and Small Passerines
humnchirp@verizon.net
http://www.wildliferesponse.org/