Hi Susan!
How are you doing?
Yes as you might expect I am still seeing hummers daily. Had them chasing around me as I watered this morning.

I do so hope and pray that we will NOT have an early fall again this year! It came too early last year with freezing or near freezing nights in early October.

I have lots of butterflies also. More than I have ever had I do believe.
What are the large yellow ones with dark blue or black margins all around their wings? I have noticed a lot of those this year and they are so pretty.

Oh and by the way the hummers have absolutely loved the Calabroucha..(spelling???) they come to it constantly...and it has surprisingly not gotten all leggy and ugly even this late in the season. I am sold on it!

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend!
G.M.

Susan,

We are still seeing hummingbirds too, and in about the same numbers as usual. If they are migrating, they haven't reached Love County yet or we'd be seeing MORE than usual, which we haven't.

G.M., The large yellow butterflies are probably swallowtails. I've linked a photo. We are seeing lots of those this week, as well as lots and lots of sulphurs and quite a few painted ladies.

I am glad you've been happy with your callibrocha. When it first debuted on the market, I was skeptical that it could handle our heat and I have been happy to be proven wrong on that.

I'm hoping for a late autumn also. Last year's cold temps arrived too early. The cooler nights these last few days do have me wondering if we are headed for a rapid cool-down. Considering the weather we have had this year, I guess ANYTHING is possible.

We have a huge dove population and it seems to be growing daily. I guess the word is out that I am putting out cracked corn for them. Now, if only people will refrain from shooting all the doves on our place once dove season arrives. (We don't allow people to hunt on our property, and it IS posted 'No Hunting' but that doesn't stop some people!)

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Swallowtail photos

Awwww - poor doves! The vet my daughter works for found an injured dove on her property. It has been doctored (very well, I might add) and she released it this week. Her vet is really into birds so they usually have a few around the office. The fleas are driving one of my cats nuts (the feline sort), so he went in today to get a shot of steroids and some antibiotics. He has had a horrible allergic reaction to the fleas. Even after putting Frontline on him (which he also had a reaction to), he is still miserable. We are going to give him some Benedryl tonight. Doc ways we can give him Children's Benedryl.

Lots of butterflies and moths around this year, and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. I don't recall early fall last year, Dawn. My memory is bad, but I do remember having Monarchs up into November, which is late for them.

The Eastern Tiger Swallowtails are large yellow butterflies with black stripes. They can be 3-5" wide.

You may also get the really big Orange Sulphurs there, too. Orange Sulphurs have a dark edging that you can see on the upperside of the wings, but not on the underside.

Susan

Susan,

Most years we will get our first freeze here in Love County right around Thanksgiving, usually just before Thansgiving but sometimes a little after Thanksgiving.

Last year we had our first REALLY cold night that 'caused severe freeze damage to the warm-season veggies around October 13th or 15th. It was ALMOST a welcome event at the time because we were still having a lot of wildfires, so the cooler temps/higher hunidity were welcome in that respect. I just hated losing most of the warm-season veggies and flowers so early though.

For some reason (and it is one of those things that does not necessarily make sense to me) all of our sulphurs seem smaller than usual this year. I don't know why. I keep looking at them and wondering why they seem smaller than in previous years. Any ideas?

Dawn

Well, there are several species of Sulphurs, Dawn. There is the larger Cloudless Sulphur, that is about 3-3.5" and sometimes 4" in size. That is the largest one that populates Oklahoma (migrates back south in winter). The next largest is the Orange Sulphur. About 2-2.5". It is orange to an orange-yellow color on the underside and the top is yellow with the black edging along the wing perimeter. The Southern Dogface is about the same size. On the outer wings you can see what appears to be an outline of a dog's face. It is yellow to orange as well.

The Sleepy Oranges are a definite orange on the underside and upperside, with a black edge around the perimeter on the upper wing margins. They are smaller, about 1.5"-2".

There are many other smaller Sulphurs like the Dainty Sulphur and Little Yellow.

The Cloudless Sulphurs are the largest we get in OKC, and they are about the same size I see from year to year. They are few in number in the city. But, I have some eggs on my sennas. They are a lemony yellow in color and almost entirely devoid of any kind of markings.

They could be smaller, but generally the butterflies of many species are smaller in springtime than in the fall. Maybe in the past you have seen some of the really large yellow Sulphurs from Texas since you're close to there, and not seeing them this year. They fluctuate in population and range?? Food plant sources and availability could have something to do with size. These butterflies generally use sennas as host plants. Our earlier rains may have done some of them in as they generally like a drier soil. If there is not enough food plant available, caterpillars will pupate early and, consequently, the butterflies will be smaller as a result, too. So that could be a big factor.

I know I was shocked in spring when I first began to see Question Marks that were smaller than the ones I saw late last summer. When I asked about it, I was told that the spring broods are smaller than the fall broods.

So many varying factors to consider......it's kind of 6 of one and half dozen of another, you know? Hope this helps explain it a little.

Susan

Susan,

Thanks for the explanation. I just couldn't figure out why the sulphurs seem so small this year in comparison to previous years! I think the most logical explanation is that we do normally see the really large sulphurs generally found in Texas. I didn't know that the really large sulphurs are not normally found in Oklahoma. After all, our part of Love County is surrounded by Texas on three sides...to our west, to our south, and to our east.

We do have sulphurs of all sizes every year, including the sleepy orange, and they are all here right now.....but the big ones aren't. We probably have more Cloudless Sulphurs than any other kind most years,perhaps because most of the pastures here in southern Oklahoma have lots of senna, especially in fallow pastures (of which there are many) which aren't necessarily used these days for grazing or haying, at least on a regular basis.

Well, I'll have to watch the fall broods and see if they seem larger than the spring ones. I've never really given it much thought. Even our largest swallowtails seem smaller than usual this summer. Maybe it is the wacky weather. We have been extremely dry here since the heavy rains dried up in July, and a lot of unirrigated native plants are not blooming well and are dropping their leaves. The ground is cracking....and what little rain falls (0.5" last week) is not accomplishing much. Maybe the excess heat is affecting the butterflies here.

Dawn

I still have hummingbirds in Stillwater. I saw several in my neighborhood when I was walking this weekend and have at least 2-3 hanging out around my feeders. I was wondering if the migration was arriving because it seemed there were more than usual this weekend.

Pat,

I only saw one hummer this entire weekend and I was getting worried that the migration had occurred and had passed us by! Now that I know you have seen some around your place, I will relax, refill the feeders, and wait for them to fly on down this way.

Dawn

I've been seeing a few this week since I originally posted, so they're still around.

My daughter got me a new feeder (it's a one-er) at the Arts Festival at OCCC yesterday. It's made from an upside down wine bottle and there is a cork in the bottle and somehow or other I need to figure out how to use it. It's pretty cool looking. She made it with copper tubing and there is a red flower on the very end. There is no other red on it, and I'm wondering if the hummers will "see" it and use it. What do you think? I love the appearance.

Susan

Susan, I see very few hummers here all summer--2 or 3 at the most at a time around my one feeder with four ports. Unlike the thirty or forty that used to visit my father's three feeders at one time. This year he gave up feeding them and gave his feeders to neighbors who took up the slack so I'm not able to ask him how many he has at any time. But I saw two at my feeders today here in Adair Co so I'm leaving my feeder up. The senna that I planted from the seeds you sent is over 4 ft tall, but I haven't seen flowers yet. And haven't seen anything eating it except Japanese beetles earlier(Haven't seen them for a couple weeks either, to my delight) What color will the flowers be and what am I looking for? Cats on the plant or butterflies when it blooms?

This year was the best year ever for me with hummers. I put feeders out the spring we first moved here and it was 2 months before I a saw "A" hummer. Had one pair come to the feeders that year.

The numbers have steadily increased over the years. Actually had about 10 hummers on multiple feeders numerous times this year.

My numbers have decreased in the last few days.

randy

Hi Everyone.

Susan, The new feeder sounds lovely. So, does the cork have a little tube that sticks out of it and the hummers suck the nectar from that tube? That's how I am picturing it.

I have a clear glass hummingbird feeder with a yellow plastic base. The only red is the little blossom looking plastic thing at each of the 4 ports. Hummers come to this feeder all the time, so I am not sure how important it is to have red on the feeder.

However, if you are concerned that they might not find the new feeder without something bright red to attract them, you could tie a red bow to it or attach a red silk flower to it.

Randy, I am glad you had a good hummingbird year. Maybe all of our hummers went north to your place. :)

We had plenty of hummers here in the early summer months, but their numbers dropped drastically in August, which is the opposite of what usually happens. I still have the occasional hummer, but not anything to get excited about.

We always have a great migration in early September, so I am hoping that will occur.

I have noticed that the more plants that I have which provide the hummers with food, the fewer hummers I have at the feeders. I have had tons of plants they love in bloom all summer, so I have tended to see them out around the plants more often than up around the feeders near the house.

Dawn

Susan, I have a wine bottle feeder that sounds just like the one you describe, and the hummingbirds like it just fine. All it has is the little bit of red on the plastic flower tip.

Mulberry Knob, the senna blooms very late, and the flowers are yellow. I'll attach a photo for you. It is a host for the Cloudless Sulphur and the Sleepy Orange butterflies. I think I sent you some Senna alata or bicapsularis, I don't recall which one, do you?

I didn't grow S. alata this year. Just didn't have the room for it, and I have 3 sennas - Partridge Pea, S. bicapsularis (if it is this, you won't need to plant it again as it self-sows), and S. hebecarpa (Wild Senna; perennial). I'm gonna have plenty of Partridge Pea and Wild Senna seeds, as well as bicapsularis (commonly called Christmas Cassia) if you need any more.

Four feet tall leads me to think you have bicapsularis, which doesn't get as tall as alata. My alata got about 8-10' tall and has large leaves. The bicapsularis leaves are smaller, but very soft, while the alata leaves are kind of tough.

I didn't see any hummers today, but they are kind of "iffy" right now. It looks like we may have an early fall this year.

Susan

Here is a link that might be useful: Cassia ssp.

I had one hummer this afternoon---a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird who thought it would be fun to hang out inside the big red barn although it couldn't find any nectar in there.

In order to lure it out of the barn after it had been in there for a few hours, I had to close all the doors but one, and then hang a hummingbird feeder in the doorway. That didn't work, so I then hung my red poppy print t-shirt in the door....and cut branches of bright pink four o'clocks at about 6:30 p.m. and put them in a bucket in the doorway. That worked!

Usually, when I have a confused hummer who thinks the barn is a giant red flower, it is a bird that is new to the area, or one that is just passing through. So, that confirms for me that the migration is in process, since all our 'regular' residential hummers already know the red barn is not a gigantic red flower.

Lots of hummingbird moths (mostly sphinx and clearwings) outside tonight, too, mostly visiting the daturas and four o'clocks.

Dawn

I just went out in the garage to find a female ruby buzzing the light on the ceiling. I turned the light off and she landed on a shelf and settled down quickly. Hopefully at daylight she finds her way out. I may hang a feeder outside the door to get her attention.

Randy,

I'm glad it is not just us. For some reason we have the most awful problem with hummers going into the red barn (perhaps thinking it is the biggest red flower they've ever seen?) and refusing to come out. It has a really high roof and they just fly back and forth until they are exhausted. Some of them stay inside for hours and hours. They never leave on their own. We had one stay inside for days and days....it would eat from the feeder near the door, but it wouldn't leave.

For a couple of years, it seemed that every time I opened either the front or back door of the house, a hummer would fly in. Since I have cats in the house, this was not a good thing. Most of the house-visiting hummers would eventually sit on a ceiling fan blade and ride round and round the room, so we could turn off the fan, stand on the coffee table, cup the hummer gently in our hands, and take it outside to release it. All I can think of it that the hummers were attracted to the vines that climb the porch pillars and flew in through an open door searching for more lovely plants. (It's not like the doors were sitting open.....the hummers just got really good at following us in....but not out!)

We also have problems with hummers flying inside the south-facing door of the screened-in back porch, trying to take the most direct route to the flowering plants outside the north-facing wall of the back porch. We can usually guide them out of there pretty easily.

I still am not seeing many hummers. If the migration has begun, it is slow in coming. It could be it is already almost over here, and the few I am seeing are stragglers.

Dawn

You guys that's so funny, but can apparently be a big problem. I read that the hummers will even go in garages with red handles on them!!! Much smaller than a big red barn. Silly things!

Someone suggested that the red handles be painted black, but I doubt you guys want to paint your barns black, right? I guess you could just paint the doors and that might deter them.

Just have to add: GO OU! WOO-HOO, we win a big one!

Susan

Susan,

I guess we'll stick with the red barn, but I do wish the hummers would get a clue!

I didn't see any hummers at all this weekend.

Dawn

I saw two Saturday, Dawn. Migration is obviously underway. The Monarchs will start migrating very soon through Oklahoma, too, so be on the watch for large numbers of them, possibly roosting overnight in nearby trees.

Susan

I had hummers this weekend! I think I saw at least three. I saw them just before dusk, probably around 7 or so. I saw them around my vitex tree, but they would not cooperate for a pic! I did try to catch them in back around my red salvias, but they were too quick for me there too.

I haven't had a chance to look again since Saturday.

Lisa

Susan,

I LOVE the monarch migration. Our first or second year here we had thousands of them rest overnight on a dead tree that was on the edge of the woods and visible from one of our bedroom windows. It was an amazing sight and I will never forget it.

We had a hummer or two yesterday, but I wasn't home much, having spent the day at the hospital with a friend. I hope to spend most of today out in the garden as the weather is gorgeous, dry and cool!

Dawn

Susan,
All of my males hummingbirds left last week. I live in the Sapulpa area. Just females are here now. They will soon be gone too. I will miss them.