For all of you who maintain hummingbird feeders please don't remove them yet. There is still a large population filtering down from Canada. Due to the extended warm spring and summer many females had more than one nesting this year and those immatures from their second nesting are still migrating south or will be soon. I still have several immatures from a late nesting here and with the temps taking a sudden drop the feeders may help these late migrants to get far enough south that they can find more native nectar sources. Hummers can travel up to 100 miles and from one of the flyway routes from Quebec Province they will travel along Lake Ontario, over to Lake Erie onward to the Ohio River/Miss. River flyway and then to the Gulf coast or SW Texas.

Since 2006 when the Oct. suprise storm hit and we lost so much habitat the populations in some areas of WNY our returning hummer population has been way down. We need to do what we can to help rebuild that population so please keep at least one or two feeders maintained with fresh nectar.

Penny