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hummersteve

How many hummers do you have

20 years ago

Not sure but I have several. I have two window feeders on for I like to watch while Im working from my pc which is located right next to the window and even thou Im only a couple feet from them they dont seem to mind. There is ony two ports on each feeder and the most Ive seen feeding at one time is 3 of the 4 perches and the rest of the time they just run each other off. I saw a video a few years back , which many of you may have seen. These people had about 10 feeders in a row hanging from the gutter area and it looked like they had at least 40 or 50 hummers feeding and flutting around the feeders. People were coming from long distances to view these hummers, but were allowed only under a canopy which had chairs aranged there and they were allowed to take pictures from there. It was quite amazing to see that many in one place. I was thinking it was new york ,but I could be wrong. In fact they might be on this forum. Did anyone see what im referring to?--steve

Comments (15)

  • 20 years ago

    I have only seen one here..but I don't have a feeder..I hope to get one out today..I was as excited as a little kid on Christmas morning.

  • 20 years ago

    We only had 2..3 at the most, until yesterday! It rained, the weather cooled off and the little boogers were everywhere this morning! I know I saw at least 10..maybe more.

  • 20 years ago

    I've got 3 feeders out and there's a male guarding each one with several others challenging the males for the feeder. I find they are really active around 7:00-7:30pm.
    2 of the feeders are on shepherd's hooks on opposites sides of the patio. Often, they'll be a male perched on top of each shepherd's hook guarding 'his' feeder. Too funny!
    Here's a photo of one:
    {{gwi:995612}}

  • 20 years ago

    I have a large hbird garden and have around 10 feeders up for the Rubythroats. All my birds fight mostly and I have counted 10-15 at one estimate. They swarm like bees chasing each other through the yard so I have to count fast. LOL

  • 20 years ago

    I have at least one male, and at least 2 females. There may be more, but I rarely see more than one at a time. Once, I saw two females, one on my feeder and one at my neighbor's feeder.

  • 20 years ago

    Last year, I had 5 (or more), 2 males spotted at one time and 3 females spotted at another. I've only had one male that I know of this year, and had one female earlier. I haven't seen her in about 6 weeks now. DH said he saw her one day, but I haven't seen her at all, so I think he just caught a glimpse of the male without his red showing. I have 2 feeders and lots of plants for them, but I guess I'm just having a bad year :(

    On the plus side, I've had loads of butterflies and even a few monarch cats. I just found my second baby, which is now in a container. The first is still in it's chrysalid.

  • 20 years ago

    I have had the following this year:

    1 female Black-chinned
    1 female Rufous
    1 juvenile Rufous (this year's young)
    1 male Rufous
    1 female Calliope

    Of course, not all at the same time.

    BN

  • 20 years ago

    We are guessing 6. We've seen 4 at once. Seems like we are getting more each year. Of course the garden and number of feeders grows each year!

  • 20 years ago

    Last year I didn't start noticing them until August, when my trumpet vine started to bloom for the first time. Once they started coming, I got the idea to put a feeder up outside our dining room window. Because it was so late in the season, I didn't see a male at all last year. At peak, I did see 4 females/immatures all at the same time. It's possible there were more, but hard to say.

    This year, I saw my first male on May 2nd, but it was weeks after that before I saw my first adult female. The male (or males) seem to have departed now, but today I saw two female/immatures at the same time, one dive-bombing the other! Goodness, I don't know how to tell without marking them, how many we have. My feeders don't have perches, so I don't get to see numbers of them sitting all in one place. They like to perch in our holly tree, and also on the power lines to the house, but I've never seen more than one at a time in these favorite spots. All I can say is that I've had at least 3 different birds this season, but I'm guessing there were (are?) probably a few more.

  • 20 years ago

    Kristen, I still have a couple males and they like to hide in and around this huge tomato plant I have in front of the feeder window . Before the plant got so big one male would sit on the tomato cage on guard and would be pruning himself like he had all day and no cares, bold soul. I just got back from a four day camping trip and do you know my feeders were empty at least 22oz. of nectar---steve

  • 20 years ago

    50-75 during the summer but only 10-20 during winter. Near San Diego, CA. Hard to count them all. Feeders are filled each day.

  • 20 years ago

    Hey rusticranch,, what an amazing shot that is. best Ive seen of so many hummers. I can also see the ones fluttering. I also have a feeder like the ones you have hanging , its a 30oz. glass. Yes you would have to refill every day having so many , what a lucky person you are--steve

  • 20 years ago

    hi rusticranch...how in the world did you manage to get that many hummers feeding at the same time without them chasing each other off?? We have at least 6 here, and have only seen 2 at a feeder once or twice. That is a great picture you have.

  • 20 years ago

    Hi Donnas- I have two window feeders which have two perches each. I have seen up to 3 of the 4 perches being used at the same time however briefly, but most of the time is spent in their chasing game. I guess you just need the time to be able to watch. IF you can only look in from time to time you probably wont see that.

  • 20 years ago

    I'm not sure why we have so many hummers - just increased to 13 feeders and have to fill all 13 daily. Not unusual to see all 5-6 flowers of each feeder occupied. Now using 30 lbs sugar per week. I'm no expert but here are a few observations: 1. the number of hummers increased dramatically one summer when we put out several more feeders than hummers. I think that once the hummers figure out there is no competition for food they seem to spend more time feeding and less time defending the feeder. 2. We live in the country and it is fairly dry throughout the year so the liquid/water source is sort of scarce. Maybe the hummers need the liquid as well as the sugar content. 3. Because we don't have extensive landscaping (we have a low producing well) we don't have a lot of flowering plants so flowering plants for hummers are scarce unlike the city environment where everybody has flowering plants in their yards. 4. We have a chinese flame tree just a few yards fom the feeders - very dense coverage for the hummers to hide in. 5.Houses in this area are separated by at least 5 acres so the hummers don't have a lot of neighborhood feeders to choose from.
    Cheapest souce of 30 oz feeders I have found are from Lowes - you can order over the internet, very cheap shipping ( I have no association with lowes).

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