Suppertime at the feeder outside the kitchen window. This is the largest of four feeders - it has a 96 ounce capacity and they are emptying it daily. During the height of the season they emptied it twice a day.
Very nice hummer pics. I can't imagine how you get so many at one feeder at one time. Hummers that I have encountered would run themselves ragged preventing any others from feeding.
We get quite a few hummingbirds every summer. I just checked the feeders and there are about 15 hummers feeding right now. We sometimes have 50+ out there at one time -- making the sideyard something of a hazard to navigate :) Hummer numbers have been down a little from last year, but we still have enough to keep us busy filling the feeders. My husband emptied another bag of sugar last night, bringing this year's sugar consumption up to 128 pounds. Last year we fed a total of 147 pounds of sugar. I'll post our total from this year when the last hummer leaves, probably sometime around the second week of October.
Wayne, during the peak of the season we have six feeders going: one 96 oz., two 48 oz., two 30 oz., and one 20 oz. During late July and early August the greedy little critters empty all of them daily -- that's a little over two gallons every day.
Right now the numbers are lower and we are going through only about 3/4 of a gallon a day.
Well, it's another day and I am still awestruck by your hummer population. Nobody I know has more than one or two...usually one showing up at their feeder and hummer plants. Is there some other secret here?...are you cloning them?
I agree with FC. C'mon Swampy, tell us your secret. Are there secret addictive agents in your sugar water?
Really, though - what do you attribute this to? It really is a remarkably large population. Do you think it's the nearby swamps? Have you been feeding them for a long time?
I'm not dissatisfied with my population, and goodness knows we have the hundreds of bats to bowl people over with, but I'd really love a swarm of hummingbirds that drop ambrosia over all my friends.
I wish I still had the photos, but a friend of mine sent a few images of a tiny feeder that managed to attract 4 or 5 Hummers. But none of the images she sent, which were always a suprise to me with the numbers, ever had any birds so CALM and still as these.
Our house just happens to be in the right place. The millpond is behind us and there is a stream just to our west. We have tons of trumpet creeper, lots of little gnats, an abundance of spiders -- in short, good habitat. We seldom go on vacation in the summer so for the past 15 years our feeders have provided a reliable source of juice for the hummers. I would guess that we have quite a few return visitors. I'm pretty sure that some are habitual because if we don't get the feeders up early enough in the spring we have hummers staring in the kitchen window waiting for their water! Hummingbirds are tyrannical little beasts and are quite fussy if you let the feeders run dry :)
11 comments:
No Way! That is incredible! No wonder your housework suffers. I have never seen so many hummers at one time. I am humming bird green with envy...
Very nice hummer pics. I can't imagine how you get so many at one feeder at one time. Hummers that I have encountered would run themselves ragged preventing any others from feeding.
We consider ourselves lucky to see one hummingbird at a time and you have how many? Wow!!!
We get quite a few hummingbirds every summer. I just checked the feeders and there are about 15 hummers feeding right now. We sometimes have 50+ out there at one time -- making the sideyard something of a hazard to navigate :)
Hummer numbers have been down a little from last year, but we still have enough to keep us busy filling the feeders. My husband emptied another bag of sugar last night, bringing this year's sugar consumption up to 128 pounds. Last year we fed a total of 147 pounds of sugar.
I'll post our total from this year when the last hummer leaves, probably sometime around the second week of October.
OK Swampy, fess up. What kind of love juice did you put in that sugar water?
I have hummingbirds that just sit in the trees next to a feeder to chase off anyone who comes close.
Absolutely fantastic photo - congratulations!
Sorry - me again. I didn't see the statistics on the sugar consumption. That's mind-boggling. How many feeders do you have???
Wayne, during the peak of the season we have six feeders going: one 96 oz., two 48 oz., two 30 oz., and one 20 oz.
During late July and early August the greedy little critters empty all of them daily -- that's a little over two gallons every day.
Right now the numbers are lower and we are going through only about 3/4 of a gallon a day.
Well, it's another day and I am still awestruck by your hummer population. Nobody I know has more than one or two...usually one showing up at their feeder and hummer plants. Is there some other secret here?...are you cloning them?
I agree with FC. C'mon Swampy, tell us your secret. Are there secret addictive agents in your sugar water?
Really, though - what do you attribute this to? It really is a remarkably large population. Do you think it's the nearby swamps? Have you been feeding them for a long time?
I'm not dissatisfied with my population, and goodness knows we have the hundreds of bats to bowl people over with, but I'd really love a swarm of hummingbirds that drop ambrosia over all my friends.
I wish I still had the photos, but a friend of mine sent a few images of a tiny feeder that managed to attract 4 or 5 Hummers. But none of the images she sent, which were always a suprise to me with the numbers, ever had any birds so CALM and still as these.
That little mouse is a cute one Swampy.
Our house just happens to be in the right place. The millpond is behind us and there is a stream just to our west. We have tons of trumpet creeper, lots of little gnats, an abundance of spiders -- in short, good habitat. We seldom go on vacation in the summer so for the past 15 years our feeders have provided a reliable source of juice for the hummers. I would guess that we have quite a few return visitors. I'm pretty sure that some are habitual because if we don't get the feeders up early enough in the spring we have hummers staring in the kitchen window waiting for their water!
Hummingbirds are tyrannical little beasts and are quite fussy if you let the feeders run dry :)
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