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Never had hummers this late!
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Posted by sjharris53 7b (My Page) on Sun, Oct 9, 11 at 8:44
| I have fed hummers for years, and each September, it seems like overnight they are all gone, but not this year! I have seen a few females and an occasional male the first week of October. I hadn't seen any yesterday, so I thought they were all gone for good. Then, this morning, looking out my window, a female was feeding on my pineapple sage that has just begun blooming. I'm guessing these are Yankees headed south? Or perhaps some stragglers who just haven't left yet? I've been reading other postings, and have decided to leave my feeders up through Thanksgiving. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Never had hummers this late!
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| An article in our paper today said the leaves were changing colors later than usual. Maybe 3-5 days later than say 20 years ago. Don't know if there is any scientific proof of that. I also don't know if this would have anything to do with hummers migrating later. I am going to keep better records in the future. |
RE: Never had hummers this late!
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From sjharris53:
> I have fed hummers for years, and each September, it seems like overnight they are all gone, but
> not this year! Nice. What locale? It seems in general to be staying warmer longer, but I always thought migration was related to day length? |
RE: Never had hummers this late!
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| I'm in North Georgia, about 50 miles north of Atlanta, in the foothills of the Appalachians. The odd thing is our temperatures have been cooler than normal - with highs in the low 70s. |
RE: Never had hummers this late!
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| Everyone seems to be saying the same thing late hummers in a time period where they never had them before. So yes the only real answer has to be they are later this year but the reason why still remains. |
RE: Never had hummers this late!
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| I am questioning myself feeding them so late, will it tease them into staying to long? Three here in Baytown feeding straight through a 4" rain today, amazing. Fighting and fussing like it was a full sunshine day! |
RE: Never had hummers this late!
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| this is my first year of putting out feeders for hummers. been reading a lot about them. informational and interesting tidbit: http://www.hummingbirds.net/migration.html "The initial urge is triggered by the shortening length of sunlight as autumn approaches, and has nothing to do with temperature or the availability of food; in fact, hummingbirds migrate south at the time of greatest food abundance. When the bird is fat enough, it migrates. It's not necessary to take down feeders to force hummingbirds to leave, and in the fall all the birds at your feeder are already migrating anyway. If you remove your feeder, birds will just feed elsewhere, but may not bother to return to your yard the next year. I recommend continuing to maintain feeders until freezing becomes a problem." |
RE: Never had hummers this late!
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| Like so many others experiencing later hummers I have a visitor in my flower garden this morning[13th] which Im assuming is the same one I viewed yesterday as it is only using flowers. |
RE: Never had hummers this late!
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- Posted by jomuir z5 detroit (My Page) on
Thu, Oct 13, 11 at 13:25
| wow now I'm questioning if I should've taken down my feeders last weekend. But I do have lots of plants available for them if there are any hummers around. I noticed yesterday that my Texas hummingbird sage plants have a big flush of fresh flowers on them, thought it was odd so late. |
RE: Never had hummers this late!
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| jo I leave at least 1 feeder up untill around thanksgiving as most flower blooms will be done by then so if any late hummer come thru they will have something to sustain them. |
RE: Never had hummers this late!
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| Sitting out on the patio night before last, I saw a lone female on the feeder. Wondering if she may be the last one I see. Plan on being outside most of the day doing yard work in this gorgeous fall weather, so I'll be looking and listening for any more. |
RE: Never had hummers this late!
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- Posted by jomuir z5 detroit (My Page) on
Sat, Oct 15, 11 at 11:42
| You people are killing me! I haven't seen a hummer in 2 weeks. |
RE: Never had hummers this late!
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| Outside all day doing projects; no hummer sighting. Came in to wash out a paint brush, and just as if on cue, a female hummer landed on the feeder outside my kitchen window. Sorry jomuir! |
RE: Never had hummers this late!
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| I saw one female hummer today. I still have 5 feeders out. |
RE: Never had hummers this late!
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- Posted by natal Louisiana 8b (My Page) on
Sun, Oct 16, 11 at 11:11
| Keep 'em out Nanaboo. We've had a male Rufous since early August. Hopefully more to come. |
RE: Never had hummers this late!
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| I've seen a female (or females) every day this week. Definitely later than usual, but the weather was pretty erratic this year. |
Here is a link that might be useful: My garden
RE: Never had hummers this late!
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| Those that have been feeding hummers for a few years know this is a special year, for some unknown reason they seem to be later heading south and that is surprising but a great plus to us hummer enthusiasts. My last hummer was seen on Oct 19th , a full two weeks longer than any previous year. |
RE: Never had hummers this late!
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| I started seeing hummers the end of August and it had been pretty steady up until the late Nov. Now I am seeing one every few days - but its not the same one. I have had 4 or 5 different Rufous come through and the Rubythroats but now pretty much nothing is hanging around. Last year we had our first really cold spell on the 11th of December that brought in our over wintering birds. Seems now that they have stopped in North Florida and are hanging out there. I have heard that the banders are having a good time banding a number of different species - Black chinned, Buff-bellied, Rufous, Ruby-throated and there was even an immature Allen's caught a few weeks ago. I don't want cold weather to stay but I'd like a few hummers for Christmas, Santa! I've been very good this year! |
RE: Never had hummers this late!
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| I've been seeing a few winter hummers coming by also. And we've had 4 freezes already here. This is the first time...never did see any in winter before. Hardly anything blooming anymore, but the feeder is up. |
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