Yep, each sighting from here on out is special! I still have daily visitors, but I'd say I'm at about 10% of the activity from a month ago. Mine will be gone this week and then I think I'll have a week of seeing migrators and then done. Think my last one the last 2 year has been around October 15 and looking like that again this year!
Hummingbirds?
- Thread starter bwcoach
- Start date
We did have one female visit today on her way down to see you. Gone by dinner time. Have you noticed any difference in numbers caused by Helene?
Not sure I can really say, I was traveling this weekend and not really able to watch my feeders. I've definitely had more depart but still have 2 or 3 at each feeder that are here regularly and I see a bird feeding every couple of minutes.
Time to blow the dust off this thread and our feeders, down in the Carolinas anyway! I'm in a HB FB group and someone in Charlotte saw one at their feeder yesterday! Way early, but March sightings aren't abnormal. I usually see my first around the Masters, but I freshened the nectar and put them out yesterday just in case!
I have been spending a bunch of time in California over the last 3 months and have enjoyed watching the hummingbirds.
Unfortunately, the neighbor behind my FiL's house has decided to cut down five huge eucalyptus trees that attract them like a magnet. I'm curious to see how that affects the traffic at the feeder.
Unfortunately, the neighbor behind my FiL's house has decided to cut down five huge eucalyptus trees that attract them like a magnet. I'm curious to see how that affects the traffic at the feeder.
Overall, I think the western birds are more fun to watch. They don't seem as aggressive as the Ruby Throats. They still battle a bit, but oftentimes I'll see several (or more than several) at a feeder at once. That's a rarity for mine. I might see a couple at the same feeder a few times a year, while it's the norm out west in my limited experience.
I’ve been to a couple places that attract a huge amount of hummingbirds. The dessert museum in Tucson and I think my wife and I went somewhere in Costa Rica with tons of nectar feeders and where they will land on the top of your hand. It’s been a long time since we made that trip. Any other places closer to Indy where you can have a similar experience?
Get your feeders out early and leave them out later in the year. You'll be able to hand feed them. Although the last couple of years have been down numbers around here.
Yep in Brown County a couple miles outside Nashville. By July they will literally be inches from your face when you stand underneath the feeder tree. If you’re lucky you can hold a finger feeder and they’ll feed right out of your hand but won’t land on your hand. Hopefully we will get more back. Each year since ‘21 we’ve seen an increase in numbers. Last year we were figuring around 200 give or take.
There's a "pottery trail" around Seagrove NC. Probably a couple dozen pottery studios/galleries around that little town and we visited one out in the woods and they literally had thousands of hummers in the tree branches and a few hundred feeding and buzzing about at any one time. They had a lot of feeders spread around the grounds, maybe 25-30 I would guess. I'd never seen anything like it, but it was really cool! Wish I could remember the name of the place!
I'm on a national HB facebook group and a Carolinas one and tons of people in my area (greater Charlotte NC) are spotting them, but still not at my house in Rock Hill SC. Of course, I wouldn't know during the week while I'm at work, so we may have had a visitor. My GF works from home and doesn't watch as religiously as I do, but she's not seen them and she keeps an eye on it. A buddy says ours "usually" show up on Masters' week, which is still a week and a half away, but it does seem like more early visitors than normal. Saw one sighting as far north as Cincy I think. I feed and have bluebird boxes too and they've been behaving very differently this spring. Not coming to the "normal" feeder or times and I don't have any nests in either box, which is a first in 5+ years.
Do you ever look at the HB migration map? Scroll down and zoom in. Of course these are reports from probably hundreds of thousands of bird watchers, so still relatively few in any general area. I think most feeders in my area have not been visited yet.
2025 Hummingbird Migration Map
www.hummingbirdcentral.com
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Bowling Green and Paducah sightings. They're getting closer to my house.
Been enjoying them all winter at my FiL's when I'm there. His neighbor cut down all of the eucalyptus trees on the other side of the fence. Those were like magnets when they bloomed. Seemed to cause a little bit of a slowdown. Just got here last night and the feeder is empty from a couple of weeks ago when I left.
Been enjoying them all winter at my FiL's when I'm there. His neighbor cut down all of the eucalyptus trees on the other side of the fence. Those were like magnets when they bloomed. Seemed to cause a little bit of a slowdown. Just got here last night and the feeder is empty from a couple of weeks ago when I left.
Finally saw my first hummer Friday afternoon! I'd seen tons of sightings around my area, but it took me awhile. A buddy says our normal first visit is the Masters weekend so he nailed it. Must have at least 2 hanging around because I already have them buzzing each other when one is feeding. A lot more activity over the first few days than I feel like I've normally seen. Should be headed the IN/midwest folks soon!
I just filled the feeders this afternoon out here. Doing a quart/week. Flying home Thursday night and will hang a feeder on Friday.
We got our first one yesterday here in Brown County. That’s about two weeks earlier than we usually get them. It’ll be interesting to see if we get more this year. Each year we’ve increased since ‘21 when we only put out two feeders. I think last year we put out 18.
Yesterday I saw the first hummingbird of the year at our house in Evansville.
Two hit my feeder in gods country, Greene county, this morning. Hand a stand off with a Ol ruby neck about 10 mins ago. Might go buy a few more feeders see if they bring friends.
Filled and hung a big feeder, 20oz, this afternoon. Boone County. Last year was not a good year for hummers for us.
We saw an oriole for the first time in years. It checked the oriole feeder and didn’t like what they saw and left.
A buddy about 2 miles north has orioles every year. I always put a feeder out, but have never seen one. His wife even gave me their setup and I duplicated it.
Really neat birds too.
Got one feeder out tonight.
Outside my kitchen window, south side. Rose and pine bushes under the window. Old apple trees about 20 yards out that most years I hang a second one. Learned to hang it further around the side of the apple tree, or else that years boss male sits up in that tree and patrols both feeders. About 2/3 around the tree he can't see both at once and seems to stick by the one at the house.
Earliest I've ever seen them is about the 6th, but I usually didn't put m feeder up until the 5th or 6th. A couple years ago I saw one hovering with no feeder out. Not many years ago it was always the 10th, but more recently sooner.
So it's up early. It's supposed to be unseasonably warm here coming up. And many sightings along the edges of the upper peninsula seem early. I'm betting on 3, or 4 more days max.
Outside my kitchen window, south side. Rose and pine bushes under the window. Old apple trees about 20 yards out that most years I hang a second one. Learned to hang it further around the side of the apple tree, or else that years boss male sits up in that tree and patrols both feeders. About 2/3 around the tree he can't see both at once and seems to stick by the one at the house.
Earliest I've ever seen them is about the 6th, but I usually didn't put m feeder up until the 5th or 6th. A couple years ago I saw one hovering with no feeder out. Not many years ago it was always the 10th, but more recently sooner.
So it's up early. It's supposed to be unseasonably warm here coming up. And many sightings along the edges of the upper peninsula seem early. I'm betting on 3, or 4 more days max.
Already lots of northern sightings I've seen. Just a matter of luck if one finds it early, but there are definitely some up and about in your area I'd guess. I was hearing about sightings in Charlotte for 3 weeks before I saw my first. Now I have steady visitors.
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