Down here our mexican buckeys bloom fairly early (now bloomed out by a week and fully fruited) and I just wait to see the first hummer buzzing around. If mid march comes and I haven't seen one, I put them out anyway and I never look at the migration maps. I put them all out, one new one a day and I change the water on a daily rotation, keeping at least one daily fresh. This is a summer location and the friendship of migration is over so I don't want to discourage any from returning due to competition. It's not hard to look out the window and not see them, and come dusk, there's quite a show of territory disputes between the guys.

Nothing wrong with putting one out now. Worst that will happen is you'll waste a litte bit of nectar...big deal :)

I agree with mnktx, and I'm also in your zone, although probably just a smidge colder. I'm not really expecting to see any before the 15th of April, but I'm still thinking of putting my feeders out this weekend. They're glass, though, so I may have to take them in at night if temps get below freezing. So far this year, the birds appear to be ahead of schedule, but they seem to have stalled a bit in the past week with that big midwestern cold front. I don't know if that will affect you on the east coast.

I think it would be a nice thing if you were to put a feeder out now, and you might even have a very tiny chance of getting an early hummer. The migration map shows the very, very earliest birds just beginning to arrive in your area, and you'll increase your chances of seeing one if you hang up a feeder. Even though there isn't a lot blooming here in zone 6, I understand that early in the season they will find insects and also will feed on the sap that oozes from the holes drilled by sapsuckers. Very soon there will be apple blossoms, and I think they will feed at those, as well. Our forsythias are coming into bloom now, and I understand they may use those, too. No question, the weather is dicey, and flowers are few and far between, but that's exactly why you should put a feeder out. It's gotta be tough on the earliest ones, so you might even save a tiny life, especially if the weather turns nasty.

If you're thinking about it, why not go ahead and hang one? Like mnktx says, the worst that can happen is that you "waste a little bit of nectar."

Some years I have a feeder out all winter. THis year I had to take it down in late Jan. because it froze too quickly but I put one back out as soon as the temps moderated enough to keep the nectar from freezing...the first day of spring. I will put my regular spring migration feeder out between the 1st. and 15th. of April even though it will be at least the end of April - first week to 10 days of May before I actually see one. I only put a couple of ounces in the feeder until I see the first hummer.

Penny