salliestar

Nice to know we still have hummers isnt it. I still have a few here also daily. This is a sept where I have not gone a day without hummers here which is a first. I had an adult male for about a week up till the 22nd another first. But as we know the end is near.

Two girls are feeding at twilight. My dogwood girl is gone, I think...makes me sad. Yes, this is a gift to see them this late. Usually they leave around mid-Sept in my area. Steve, I saw your feeder at Lowe's. Do you think if I had that, it would encourage MORE hummers next summer? Five is the top number for me.

My two girls were busy at the feeder this morning. So happy to see them. Does anyone know the distance they can cover during one day?

Salliestar

The answer is not clear. My thoughts are you have to at least have the potential for more hummers. If 5 is all you had during migration I might doubt what that feeder might do for you. I bought mine back in march and it was $12 then but I think the price has lowered. I didnt even hang mine till august as I didnt think I had enough hummers to value hanging it till then. But on the other hand it will give you another feeder and you dont have to hang them all in the same place. Like right now I have taken most of my feeders down but I still have up one of the stacked feeders, one window feeder front and rear.

Another thought for bringing in more hummers is do you have any or good hummer plants. When I first moved here I only had feeders out , then after a couple of years I started my garden bed which was only 3' x 25' at that time. It is now 8yrs later and the garden is 10x25 plus I have added a layer of gravel and brick around that and I added several pots. I believe it is this combo of feeder and flower and location that helps to bring em in.

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I had 4 or 5 hummers here this morning and here is a shot of an immature on guard

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Thanks Steve I am going to add plants next summer, plus another feeder.
Found a website that said a hummer can fly 22 hours straight and across 1400 miles of Gulf of Mexico without stopping....amazing. Most fly only 23 miles a day though, which seems short. They have 3 routes to Mexico and Central Am....east over the Caribbean, over Gulf, and west through Texas. You probably know all this but thought I'd post for others. There were many ideas of why and when they migrate south. The most compelling was a certain flower that fuels them as they travel. Interesting to me all the info on the MOST mesmerizing bird of all :-)))

Two females feeding on a 50s overcast day. One is smaller than the other but fatter. This is a first for me to have hummers in Oct.

One hummer feeding today but not as often. I thought she had left midday, but she was back at 6pm for a long feeding of 5 min or so. I stared at her, wishing her a safe trip south....

No activity this morning. I suspect her long feeding last night has fueled her trip south. I was hoping that the Indian Summer weather we're having might keep her around for a couple of days. Stay safe sweet birds.......

I have had between 2-4 hummers the past several days but today the most Ive seen is 2 but usually just 1 today. That also ties my alltime record for oct 6th. So Im hoping for hummers tomorrow so I can have a new record. I know Im not alone as many people are having october hummers this year. Appears to be an up year for hummers.

Did see a couple of birds this morning sitting and two chasing for a total of 4. Have seen 1-4 birds all day long. It must be 75-80 degrees today. My wife informed me that the 45 birds that I thought I had well into October last year on my calendar must have been 4-5. What a bummer! My next wife is going to be a little nicer.

None today. I cleaned and put fresh sugar water in feeders, hoping to fuel a migrator. The female I saw yesterday just did quite sips and flew off. The one Tues night drank for 5 min. I miss them!