Are you grabbing the 'nocs and moving suddenly? Trying to take pics, if I sit still with the camera almost in position, I can move it slowly a little bit when they come near without them being started. They come near me a lot if I'm kind of still. Pics are the best way for me to get a good look, so much bigger on computer screen than in person. A feeder with a perch is worth the extra $ I think. Speaking of feeders, one is about 2 feet from a window we can see from the couch, and one by the front porch is much closer to chairs, about 4 feet.

Thanks for the reply, purple. That's a good tip about moving just a small amount and reeeely slow.

I thought I was moving slow, but they're big and heavy so maybe my movements are jerky. And I've been taking them off the table.

From the feeders you can see all the way into the kitchen and the binocs look huge and black. For now I'm putting them aside and letting them drink their fill.

I ordered a pair of 10 oz binocs that will be easier to hold for longer periods and will try the tiny and reeeely slow when I get them.

Thanks.

You might enjoy a tripod, if there's a screw hole in the bottom of the 'nocs, it's for attaching the thing that attaches to the tripod, I think that's fairly universal. I got mine in the mid-90's but it was only $10. It has adjustments I didn't even know until DH showed me, and it leg sections and a periscope thing so it can get tall enough that he doesn't have to stoop to use it. Then folds up in seconds to like 16" long, weighs less than a pound I think. But anyway, that would put the 'nocs in a stable location, as close to your head as you feel like, like using a telescope which comes with its' own tripod.

The more you do whatever-it-is that you do (besides jerky sudden movements,) the more the hummers will get used to you and come closer/around more. DH is at work all day, so they don't see him as often. When he sets up to take some pics, he usually has to wait and only believes me about their numbers and activities from watching out the window. They just don't act like that when he's out there. But when I'm on the porch alone, it's like grand central station, they zip in/out, chasing each other, sampling the blooms, and hitting this feeder, whether I'm sitting down or watering plants, as long as I'm moving sloth-like.

(This feeder with a perch is very popular, and we get a good close-up view of perched ones often. If DH had taken this pic, it would be clear, sorry, it was me.)