OK, so what this tells me is that all of the Rubythroats are in WESTERN PA which is why those of us in SE PA have none! Please send some east for us...thank you!

I see one occasionally at my feeder, but not often.

Deb in PA

It would be interesting to find a banding station in one of the eastern coastal states, and see if their numbers are up or down. I'm curious and will try to look into it.

When I watched the first sightings map this spring on hummingbirds.net, I noticed that the map filled in in an interesting way. It seemed like one wave moved up the Mississippi valley, and the other came up the east coast. They seem to avoid crossing the Appalachians during their migrations, probably because the elevations are higher and the flowers are later to bloom.

So, from what I remember, there were hummers in Minnesota, and hummers in New England before they ever got into western PA. I think this might be because our hummers are coming from the south and west, and it takes them forever to move across Indiana and Ohio. If you're a hummingbird working your way up the Mississippi, Minnesota is actually closer than western PA, even though it's farther north! The east coast migrators just zip up the coast and get into New England before any are seen in western PA. I'm not sure too many of them ever bother to work their way west and go across the mountains.

Until someone can make a radio transmitter small enough to fit on a hummingbird, I think their exact migration paths are going to remain a mystery. All I know is that those of us in western PA and West Virginia were just about the last people to see hummingbirds, except, maybe for the folks who live at the very northernmost parts of their Canadian and US range.

I know your post was light-hearted, Deb, and I'm being analytical, but it does fascinate me where these amazing little birds travel. It looks like your birds are coming from the east coast migrators, and ours in western PA are coming from the Mississippi river migrators. If your numbers are down, and it isn't just an unfortunate fluke for you, maybe something happened to the eastern population, but not to the western one. Maybe yours in the east are the ones that fly across the gulf and got affected by hurricanes. Maybe ours stayed over land and wintered in Mexico and were relatively unaffected. I don't know, but I'd sure like to.

I'm afraid my birds are so spoiled rotten that it will be hard to convince them to fly over the mountains and on over to your yard. Tell you what, though, I'll try to talk them into flying east by mentioning all those Mountain Laurels and Rhododendrons they're missing!

Tell them I have some wonderful butterfly bushes (that the male juvies loved last year) and also some tasty hostas. It seems that the carpenter bees drill a hole in the base of the hostas and then the hummers access the nectar thru that hole. Last year I thought the hummers were piercing the flowers themselves, until I witnessed how it's done.

It is interesting about the migration patterns and the abundance in one area and lack in others. Please let us know if you find data on numbers in the eastern part of the state. At least if there are numbers to prove there are less now, it might make me feel better. Right now it just seems so lonely at my feeder. I did have a female visit while I was sitting on the deck Sunday morning, about 6:30am.

Deb in PA

I've got more than I know what to do with here in Georgia, most I have seen in ten years of feeding them. I can't hardly wait to see what the fall migration will bring.

Deb in PA, I put a call in to Kathy Klimkiewicz at Patuxent Bird Banding lab in Laurel MD. I had to leave a message because it was after hours. I explained that hummingbird numbers at Powdermill were at record highs, and wanted to know if the same were true for the east coast. Hopefully, she'll get back to me some time next week and I can pass along what she has to say.

Do you know other people in your area that are seeing less hummers than usual, or are you just really unlucky? Since I understand that the same birds will tend to return to the same areas each year, maybe your birds were just very unfortunate, and didn't make it through the migration. Or maybe overall numbers really are down in eastern PA.

I'm looking forward to hearing what Kathy Klimkiewicz has to say.

This year we have more than ever. However, our garden is larger than ever. The females seem to out number the males. I'm also interested in the Patuxent Bird Banding lab results since I'm not far from Laurel, MD.

I have had many birds this year. I have expanded my hummingbird garden a little more each year, with great success! I have several juveniles, lots of females, and at least one male. I'm in Laurel, MD. Thanks for the info! Christy

I've noticed an uptick in visits this past week (except during the hottest couple days when they weren't as active up here). And today it's been like every 5 - 10 minutes since early this morning. I'm trying to get a look at who they are and maybe get some pics to see if I have any fledglings and/or recent "empty nesters" who now have the time to get back to their regular feeding activity.

Deb - have you tried hanging some garden art out that is red? I bet if you can attract the attention of some juvies (they look at and go to anything that is red...lol), that might help to start building up a population for later years once they discover what else you have for them that's good to eat.

Glad to here about the increase in #'s of RT's.
I have at least 5 regulars here in S. Ontario.
Can anyone confirm if a group of HB's is called a 'dazzle'? The hummers that frequent here are very trusting and tame as they have become quite used to me and will land on my finger if I put it in front of the feeder.
Their wings beat so fast the windchill must just about give them hypothermia! lol
Anyway, here's one of my birds. She's quite large and a better flier than the males I think.
BB

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v639/sunlover3/Special%20pictures/Trees/misc/Hummingbirds/B5.jpg

Question regarding red garden art:
Will something that moves frighten them off? I purchased a lovely item back in June that I haven't hung up yet. It is a bright red piece of metal depicting a hummingbird, with concentric circles around it that have been fanned out. It catches the wind and causes it to spin. It is really beautiful. But I am concerned that if it's too close to the feeder, it could scare the hummers away. I'm also concerned that a fast spinning piece of metal could injure a bird if it goes close.

Oh an up note, I have seen a few visits. Nothing near what I had last year, but still promising. I think I will see about getting some salvia, perhaps as a dish garden near the feeder.

Deb in PA

Deb - I've seen pictures of hanging hummer ornaments with hummers perched on them! LOL I've noticed that if something is new near their feeder, they may check it out or if it moves, that may startle them a few times, but they usually eventually ignore it. I expect there's a higher chance of them slamming into a window or tree than into an ornament, considering how fast they can move. They are very maneuverable and are continually moving their heads to look all around, so I don't think you'll have a problem with them hitting it or getting hit by it.

What I have up isn't actually "art" (maybe "junk" LOL!), but it's a vinyl lunch bag and I believe the color was enough to help attract more than the one that first visited me back in August 2004. When new ones have come, they always check out the bag - particularly the juvies.

You can see 2 facing off across from the bag, in the below pic that I took last summer.

{{gwi:2367}}