Screenshot 4/21/21

More sightings in New England, including one in Plymouth (not mine).

Warm today with SSW winds, This could be a trap since the temperature is expected to plummet to close to freezing tonight and tomorrow night with daytime temperatures chilly.

Claire

Screenshot April 22, 2021

Chilly Earth Day today. I hope the hummers are hunkering down in sheltered areas and not trying to fly anywhere.

Claire

Screenshot April 23, 2021

A couple of warm days ahead and then cooler with rain on Sunday.

Enterprising hummers will probably be flying today.

Claire

Screenshot April 24, 2021

There's a sighting in Stratham, NH so they're steadily heading north.

I moved my feeder from the temporary hook to the permanent location. This entailed bumping some other feeders - the suet feeder moved and bumped the safflower feeder which is now out of direct sight. The next move will come when the orioles show up and need the jelly feeder on the hook that now holds the suet feeder.

The orioles usually arrive within a few days of the first hummer.

Cooler tomorrow with rain.

Claire

Screenshot Hummingbirds April 25, 2021

I decided to check the oriole status and Journey North has a map of that too.

Screenshot Baltimore Orioles April 25, 2021

Chilly with spotty rain this morning.

Claire

Thanks! I put up my hummingbird feeder today. Checked in my records and had a hummingbird on this day in 2016...I think that was the earliest ever. We got our orange half holder out of storage today too.

I can’t figure out why I’m sometimes Barrheadlass and sometimes my name! Would really like it to be Barrheadlass...

Barrheadlass: Houzz is doing strange things lately. On another thread (Show us your Landscape Gardens) Donna Frost AKA defrost49 emerged.

Screenshot of Hummingbird Migration April 26, 2021

Screenshot of Baltimore Oriole Migration April 26, 2021

I'm expecting action any day now.

Claire

Ooo! I've still got some time and that's good. I'm learning which trees they enjoy feeding from. I'm not very good at identifying spring-flowering trees with the exception of a magnolia species or redbud. I don't know if the others are cherry, apple, crabapple, or something else. We have a tulip tree that they are supposed to like. I'll have to watch for blooms. Once mother nature attracts them I assume the feeders will be busy.

Screenshot of Hummingbird Migration April 27, 2021

Screenshot of Baltimore Oriole Migration April 27, 2021

No hummers or orioles here yet.

Claire

Hummers sighted in Bremen, ME and Sanford, ME.

Screenshot of Hummingbird Migration April 28, 2021

Screenshot of Baltimore Oriole Migration April 28, 2021

Claire

Buddy's Back! 4-28-21 - earliest arrival for me. My neighbor 1/2 mile away had just texted me that a male hummer came to her feeder and lo, 20 minutes later, I saw this fellow on our feeder. :) So special. Of course, both cameras were on the wrong setting, but one has the date.

Jane

Congratulations, Jane! That's the first hummer recorded on the forum this year. I hope that's a sign that the hordes will be arriving soon.

Of course they're forecasting rain all day tomorrow.

Claire

Cheer up, Claire, they're on their way to you right now. 😊 And rain will be bath water!

My neighbor, 3 houses away, had one today. I’m still watching!

Great news, Janet Campbell! They're surging now!

Claire

Bremen, ME? That's not what the map shows. Bremen is father north. Regardless, I've got to get feeders ready!

I’m in southeastern Massachusetts. Catbirds should be here soon too!

Screenshots of Hummingbird Migration April 29, 2021

I don't vouch for accuracy of the map, Deanna, I just post what it tells me.

Screenshot of Baltimore Oriole Migration April 29, 2021

Claire

Screenshot of Hummingbird Migration April 30, 2021

Screenshot of Baltimore Oriole Migration April 30, 2021

Claire

I'm not volunteering to create it, but it would be nice, I think, if there was one central website where people reported their hummingbird sightings. It would coordinate the numbers - similar to the Monarch Watch butterfly station in Kansas. I did look to see about hummers, but did not see any place, like Cornell, with a consolidation of sightings. The Hummingbird net fellow seemed to be the best coordinator when the man was able to maintain the website, alas... But I find it so worthwhile and a really nice thing to have you, Claire, maintain this post every year for us New Englanders. Carry on, fair maiden...with thanks.

Hummingbirds finally yesterday at my feeder. Usually I don’t put it up until they arrive. For years they’ve come to my slider to tell us they are here. So funny!

Congratulations, Janet Campbell! Nice that the hummers didn't have to go "trick or treat" at your slider this year.

Claire

Screenshot of Hummingbird Migration May 1, 2021

Screenshot of Baltimore Oriole Migration May 1, 2021

Happy May Day all! I hope that the hummingbirds will come and dance around your feeder pole. They're ignoring mine although there have been multiple sightings in the Plymouth area.

Claire

No hummers yet, but I just saw a Baltimore Oriole! Got to get some jelly out for them.

Claire

Claire, I ordered native plants from Prairiemoon Nursery this year and I just had a delivery of 3 small New Jersey Tea plants. I was reading about them to figure out where to put them and the information said they attract hummers because there is a special bug that is attracted to them that they eat. I thought I'd pass that along. I didn't really buy them for that reason but it's a nice bonus.

One hummingbird sighted in Blue Hill, ME.

Screenshot of Hummingbird Migration May 2 2021

Screenshot of Baltimore Oriole Migration May 2, 2021

No hummers yet here, but I've seen Baltimore Orioles several times.

Claire

I’ve just put my orange out.

OK, I was just out on the porch and I glanced over and there was a hummer on the feeder! He flew off before I could react but I didn't have a camera with me anyway. I raced inside but I haven't seen him again (I'm assuming it was a male given the early appearance).

Claire

Yay! Glad your chap came back.

Catbirds arrived here today. I just love them...had hummingbirds today too.

Nice, Janet Campbell - hummers and catbirds! I haven't seen any catbirds yet.

Claire

The hummers are in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Screenshot of Hummingbird Migration May 3 2021

Orioles have made it to Maine

Screenshot of Baltimore Oriole Migration May 3 2021

The hummer I saw yesterday was not here this morning, so he was probably a transient passing through.

Claire

No picture, but a meeting. I was sitting on the steps inside the garage with both garage doors fully open resting after raking ground and sowing a lot (!) of wildflower seeds in the newly tilled expansion of the Streetside Meadow. Wondering if I would stay alive for the next 5 minutes (not as young as I used to be) , a shiny red gorget appeared like a beacon in front of me. He zipped around, took in a full view of everything, stared at me as I softly explained about more flowers coming and I swear in MY mind's eye, he understood. Zipping at mach 2, he was gone and I was left with the memory. Soon, I will set up his fountain. Do any other birds get as much attention and affection as hummingbirds do? (rhetorical)

Jane

Our first hummer had a drink on the back porch! A full week earlier than last year.

Saw my first of the season yesterday — a male, zipping around the feeder.

It's a bad but good picture, IMHO. Buddy was taking a bath in the rain after his supper last evening and this picture caught the light reflecting off the white feathers under his gorget. I think it's a layer of keratin that enables this type of light refraction, as it is for his red gorget, but seldom have I seen the white feathers shine. Two different cameras, same bird.

He was one mass of vibration wetting every feather in the rain. We got 1 3/8" - so grateful as I sowed a new meadow yesterday.

Jane

Good news, Deanna and nekobus! Buddy looks spiffy with that necklace, Jane.

I saw a hummer again this morning near the big bleeding heart which is blooming.

Screenshot of Hummingbird Migration May 4, 2021

Screenshot of Baltimore Oriole Migration May 4, 2021

I'm seeing orioles every day now but the hummers may still be migrating through.

Claire

I put out my feeders on Sunday -- Saturday was too windy -- and within hours I heard the whirr of wings. Theeeeeeey're back! It's 4 or 5 days early. But I'm glad to see them in the Litchfield Hills.

lucia

So nice, Lucia! They seem to be arriving early for a lot of people.

Claire

We had our first sighting on Sunday May 2nd. This morning there were two!

Two is a windfall so early in the season, Sue! I was happy just to see one this morning.

Claire

Screenshot of Hummingbird Migration May 5, 2021

Screenshot of Baltimore Oriole Migration May 5, 2021

Claire

Screenshot of Hummingbird Migration May 6, 2021

Screenshot of Baltimore Oriole Migration May 5, 2021

Claire

Screenshot of Hummingbird Migration May 6, 2021

Screenshot of Baltimore Oriole Migration May 6, 2021

Claire

Screenshot of Hummingbird Migration May 7, 2021

Screenshot of Baltimore Oriole Migration May 7, 2021

Claire

For interested hummingbird fans - good article and book: "The Hummingbirds' Gift", by Sy Montgomery

The Hummingbirds' Gift - Brain Pickings article

Thanks, Jane, the hummingbird is indeed a gift.

Screenshot of Hummingbird Migration May 9, 2021

Screenshot of Baltimore Oriole Migration May 9, 2021

Claire

http://www.rubythroat.org/RTHUAnatomyMain.html

More information than one probably needs or wants, but it's a good project.

Female hummingbirds are definitely here. She took one look at Buddy on the feeder and he zipped away. She immediately took over. She does ALL the work - he donates sperm and flies away - she builds the nest, lays the eggs, alone, she feeds the children through their fledging time. She makes about 100 trips a day to feed her children. I'm planting more flowers.

Jane

Oh, he's sporting a very shiny gorget this year!

Jane