Yesterday was a wonderful day...filled with so many surprises of many migrating birds and 4 Hummers! The 36th arrived around 6pm and we'll probably see it in the morning tanking up before it continues on her journey. The other 3 had moved on south.
This is what I woke up to this morning...opening the blinds before a strong cup of coffee...
A juvie male and female House Finches...silly birds!


Our 1st visitor yesterday morning was a poor juvie in need of a instruction manual...poor thing! It's not the greatest video...the sun had not gotten up high enough in the sky to clear/get above the neighbor's house yet...


One of the hummers nectaring on Stan Dreamsicle while a House Sparrow watches from a distance...


Another hummer, although surrounded by Sparrows, is comfortably resting on the tomato cage in peace...


Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

You sure are making up for a dry run this spring Susan Louise. Glad to see it!

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

Susan, it's good to know hummers are still passing thru your yarden. It would be a pity for them to miss all of your garden goodies. It must be a real find for them!

From your posts it sounds like that your part of the country doesn't normally have hummers during the summer breeding period but you do get them on their migration south. Would that be correct? And then, do you get HBs in April when they are heading north, or is their path north thru another area? Any thoughts?

Judy in Zone 6a
Cincinnati (Anderson Twp.)
Southwest Ohio

Hello Penny and Julie,

Thank you both very much!

Judy,

Well, yes, a pattern is definately developing for us here on the western fringe/edge of the RT Hummingbird migration. It's not quite clear yet, but it's looking to be that their strongest period of passing through here is during the fall migration.
We started getting involved the summer of 2007. We had a couple of females late June of that Summer nectared on our petunias on our porch railing. Hummers usually don't nectar on petunias. My guess is that they were nesting nearby, had stopped eating bugs, and were looking for the closest nectar sources. Around this neighborhood, nobody is really into gardening or birding but us. They are strictly dog and cat owners. It would be nice if in the winter some others feed some of the birds...we do seem to get huge flocks of them especially in the winter.
Anyway, so there seemed to be a couple of females that did nest in our area in 2007. With the fall migration that year we had 13 by October. We also didn't have gardens in our backyard that year and we only had couple of feeders hanging from our porch overhang. Initially, I had only had one feeder out back then from mid June til September. It was a copper one I bought from QVC the previous Spring I just never had the chance to use yet. In September I bought 2 more.
By Spring of 2008, we had built 2 new Hummingbird and butterfly gardens. by September last year we added a 3rd garden next to our patio.
With red ribbons and several feeders welcoming the Spring migrants of 2008, we only had one single male pass through. Such a huge disappointment. I had blamed it on the weather and winds most of the time. What else could it possibly be, I thought. So, we saw none til fall last year. From August 31st til Oct 9th, we had 31 pass through. I'm sure our increased #'s were due to the gardens and having several feeders in our backyard (north side of the property).
This past Spring we only saw 2 migrating through...one on May 17th and the other early June. I am just grateful that it was an improvement with just one more and we at least had a couple instead of none!
We also built a 4th garden, which although has several host plants for butterflies in one section, and Irises in another, there is still an additional new section which has Salvias and Agastaches.
As I'm sure you have been reading from my other posts, we have surpassed our count of fall migrators from last year already with about a little over a week to go. We'll still leave up some feeders til mid-late October, but I'm sure 95-99% of the hummers will have already migrated through by then.
My thoughts going into the fall migration was just hoping to exceed our count from 31 last year. Having 32 visit would have made me quite happy. Having reached 36 already, we are estatic!
So, in conclusion, the possibilities of females nesting here are rare, if at all. I'll still try and encourage a female every Spring to nest nearby with what few pass through, if at all. I just can't give up on hope!
It seems that the RT hummers mostly take a different route heading North in the Spring as they do during the fall migration. I don't know why...it baffles the mind. There is another hummer on the pacific coast that also takes a different route in Spring than in the Fall (forgot which one).
I'm thinking the importance and urgency of the hummers going in both directions is the same. When I watch the hummers migrate North in the Spring, they seem to stay east of the river between Iowa and Nebraska and head up to Minnesota and Canada (even to areas in Canada directly North and Northwest of us over by Montana!) by going in a semi circle around Nebraska and the Dakotas. I wish I knew why...
But, on their southward journey in the Fall, they seem to travel right through the Dakotas and straight down to us (no complaints!)...but would love to know the whys...
Maybe we'll never know...Big Sigh.

Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

Susan, it will be interesting to see how many hummers I get next May. In this first year I managed to attract a handful of them from May 16th to 23rd. I then went one month exactly before seeing another. Of course, after that there were only a few days without at least one hummer because I got a couple regulars during July. Since the beginning of August I'm sure I've averaged at least one new hummer every day. Hopefully, some of them will stop by on their way back north in May. I'll be sure to add several new bright red party cups to the yard.

Zone 5a
East-central Iowa

Hello Dan,

Since you live in eastern Iowa, I believe your #'s will continue to increase during the Spring migration and you will probably have larger #'s during the summer and the Fall migration too. You live in/near the prime areas where hummers migrate to and through...

Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

Susan

It is so satisfying for me to see you enjoying some migrants and the migrants enjoying the gardens you have worked so hard for. It seems well worth the effort for any hummer gardening a person does as it is being reaped now by the hummers enjoyment and by your own satisfaction of a job well done. [am I making any sense] Enjoy, Enjoy.

Steve
Martinsville, In
Heat zone 6
Sunset zone 35

Bless your heart Steve, thank you!
For me the hardest part is knowing we won't see but glimpses of them til toward the end of August again next year. Thank goodness we feed other birds, the butterflies and the occassional critter to keep us entertained for the very long duration

Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5