Hummingbirds 2012
 

Just a reminder...get the feeders ready for the hummingbirds. Last year we had them buzzing around our locations around May 1st, earlier than the usual Mother's Day sightings...I put mine out this morning. :)

I put mine out last weekend thinking maybe they'd be early like everything else this Spring. Guess not...

Gone With The Wind
 

We put our feeder out last weekend [April 20th]. Perhaps this weekend's winds blew them back to Central America. :D

I was gonna
 

But then the temps dropped down below freezing and I decided to wait.
But I did have what looked like a mayfly land on me today

They're back...
 

They appeared at my place on Saturday. Welcome back!

yup
 

Working in Long Bay and I got buzzed by one today.

Yep they are back here in Melvin!

WE need PROOF!!! Show pictures! Easier said than done. It might take a while but I'll try to post a hummer pic this season. Anybody else?

Me too, me too
 

Just at dusk, had one sit down on the perch of our front feeder and stay for about 2 minutes. Tried to get a pic with my camera on my phone, but to no avail. Too dark outside to really see it. But they are back...Yahoo!!!!

I wish I could take a decent picture through a glass window. Every year a male seems to take up residence in an azalea (sp?) bush below the feeder. I can watch it sit there for minutes from about two feet away but because the window seperates us I guess he doesn't see me. Often when I look out the upstairs window I can see a female sitting in the branches of the maple tree above the feeder.

Hummingbirds
 

Here it is 5/9/2012 and we have not see a hummingbird on the north side of the lake. (Becky's Garden). My feeders have been out for over a week now and still nothing. I thought that I was late but still nothing!

Hummingbirds
 

I have a new camcorder so I will be attempting to video these wonderful little creatures from my front deck this summer. Hope to have some
soon!

hummingbirds
 

I noticed the hummingbirds here in Moultonboro on the 9th & was happy to see them!

They are Back in Gilford
 

Had this little guy at the feeder yesterday morning. I wasn't "prepared" so the pictures aren't too good.

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Rattlesnake Hummers
 

I thought that I caught a glimpse of a hummingbird on Thursday night. Finally saw it well yesterday afternoon. Such impressive birds!

JP...

This is the best "how to" on photographing hummers I've seen.

http://www.dyesscreek.com/miscellane...s/howto_1.html

The pics I took were without a flash

Mine are out. Already saw two different colored ones eary today before the rain came in. Still freaks me out though. I keep thinking they are a big bumble bee buzzing me....:laugh:

These pictures are fabulous!!! Had one at my house today in Mass!!!! Love to see them!!!:liplick:

Steve, or anyone else for that matter, what do you use for nectar? Just wondering.....:confused:

Personally, I like Molson Ice.

They say sugar water....All I had was a hanging petunia...they were all over it...

4 parts water, 1 part sugar. I ususally boil the water before adding the sugar. The color of the actual feeder helps attract the bird so the liquid being red is not necessary.

I'm using two types of store bought. One is colorless, the other is a red concentrate that you add water to.

Hilltoper is exactly correct about the color of the fluid being unimportant. They are attracted to the color of the feeder or the actually flowers.

Rainy Day Hummingbirds
 

I was surprised to see a visitor in the pouring rain very early this morning.

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They've been quite active at my feeder this morning. I even saw one snacking in the rhododendron. I guess the little buggers don't mind the rain!

Weather systems trigger activity too. Meaning the accompanying change in atmospheric pressure.

New Hummingbird pics from 6-19-12
 

Got these late yesterday afternoon.

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Almost missed the boat
 

Because I live in Florida, I haven't put my feeder out soon enough for the hummingbirds to bookmark my location. Thus, disappointment as my feeder hung there with no activity. This year, after seeing this thread, I instructed the kids to put out the feeder when they opened the camp. So, they mixed up the nectar and hung the feeder. When I arrived I saw that the feeder was empty (a good sign) and so I filled it with my fancy red commercial stuff. I noticed that a bird would come, take a taste, and fly away (not good). Yesterday I dumped the red crap and mixed up some nectar from scratch. Now I'm getting wonderful activity at the feeder. I'm thrilled!!

The hummingbirds do not like the store mixture. Mine like the homemade 4 to 1 water to suger ratio mixture

Nectar
 

At one point in time as I was making my nectar, I though it might be good for the hummingbirds to have a stronger ratio of sugar because they are so active. A Google search led my to lots of reasons why this is a bad idea. Green's Basin Girl is right, the mixture should be one part sugar to four parts water with no coloring.

They're everywhere
 

Tons of hummingbird activity now that the little ones have hatched. I saw five at one time at my place the other day (I have 2 feeders about 20 feet apart). Pretty much every morning I wake up I look out the window into the maple tree above one of the feeders and there's a male, always perched on the same twig-like branch.

I was wondering if anyone knows this... Would this year's males have a visible, ruby colored patch on their throat yet?

Got this one the other day
 

They are getting extremely active. I have lots of them. Didn't have much time to spend outside shooting but I will. So this is a start. Female.

Check it out on SmugMug where I have lots of NH and Lake Winni nature photos.

http://brendajacobsphotography.smugm...4645722_vGjCKn

Have they switched to protein for the year? None at my feeder for more than a week now.

Same here in Wolfeboro. I think they have started their long journey south.

Seems they have started their journey to Peru. I had tons of them and now see only a few!

Lucy Goose

They always leave the area shortly after Labor Day.

Bright colors Bring Hummingbirds...
 

:look: Yesterday, I saw a hummingbird investigating a bright-red maple leaf! :emb:

I saw one on Sunday.

Feeders are still up in the event that some who breeded north of here want to stop in for a snack on their way south, but our resident birds have not been seen for 5 or so days.

We still have 6 or 7 chasing each other around here on the mountain. I would say mostly females, however we do see a male now and then. We have a large feeder and it is gone in about a day and a half. I'm guessing that in the next day or two we will not be seeing as many if any at all. Well another year is coming to bring them all back again.:)

http://i54.tinypic.com/2e56yqf.gif

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We've only one or two left that are not eating much. You can tell this little bird is cold! Haven't spotted it today... hope it started the long trek to it's winter home. :D

(Sorry for the blurry picture. The windows on the porch were closed yesterday, so the screen was up and in the way.)

After seeing none for 10 days, there was one at my feeder this evening. Guess I'll keep it up for stragglers.

Feeder coming down
 

Our feeder is coming down today after not viewing any hummers now for 5 days up here on Alton Mountain. Yep, it is time to wash it out good and put it into storage until next spring/summer. May they all have good & safe flights back to the south. :)

'Checking Wikipedia for just how long that trek is:

A hummingbird is three grams in weight? How many aspirin tablets is that?!

:confused: But what's the big deal, anyway? I can do 500 miles sitting down! ;)