dsb38327

Aug 27: morning
I don't know how they pick and choose but I feel they do. My mother lived in the country (farmland). She had hundreds of them and no one else did. When we lived 2 hours from here we had hundreds of them and no one else did. Now, here we have hundreds of them and the neighbors do not. The first year we had a few. I had my feeder poles at the end of the house and near the house. I kept moving them until they were almost in the center of the yard (open to the sky rather than under the massive trees we have here). Once they were in the center of the yard the birds started coming in flocks. I have gradually moved the feeder poles. The hummingbirds seem to have radar. I had no feeders on the little pole when they started coming in June. By the end of June I had birds ignoring the filled feeders and buzzing the empty feeder pole hooks. I felt like that was birds from last year that had fed from that feeder pole.
I would enjoy the purple martins. We have enough bugs for them. At our last house we had barn swallows on the front porch. I really enjoyed that and miss them. They are here but we don't have any.
Feel free to add your photos to my post.

jolo

Well our migratory birds just got here yesterday and the day before. We finally have a bee hive at out feeders. They dive bomb my window when the feeders are empty lol I tell my DIL and she refills them. keeps her busy.

dsb38327

Funny how they come and go so fast. You get to know (almost) when to expect them. If it is going to thunderstorm I make a couple gallons of water so I am prepared. They come in wet and hungry! You guys just had rainy weather. They also leave without saying goodbye so sometimes I am left with extra water. Mine started tanking up this morning. I think some of them also left. I have read they double their weight before they go. This morning they weren't playing, they were eating.
Did you get any photos?

dsb38327

Saturday. August 28, 2010. They are feeding heavy, getting ready to leave. There are birds everywhere, these are just what I could get in the photos. Some of the birds left last night or this morning. I have about 1/2 as many today as I did yesterday morning. The ones that are still here are eating as much if not more than they were all together yesterday morning.

barnbum

I just love these photos!! All the birds getting their tummies full for their trip. Thanks for feeding them!!
We get two per year. I get pictures--but what a photo shoot you get!!

Lady-T

I thought our 2qts a day was bad! And sugar at $2.28 for a 4lb bag!

Andii

I love your pictures, Dorothy. I have never seen a live hummingbird. I have cardinals, mockingbirds and a blue jay which I love. Do you ever have any trouble with squirrels getting in the feeders? I feed our squirrels but no matter how much I feed them they end up in the bird feeders. I love seeing the animals eat together like a big ole picnic! The squirrels and doves eat together well and the cardinals are always so polite.

dsb38327

I know your birds must be beautiful. They are very vocal. We really don't have any trouble with our squirrels and we have a zillion. They will climb the pole to any bird seed feeder we have up but they never try to climb the hummingbird feeder poles. I think their sense of smell must be very good. Wish you were here, you could enjoy the hummingbirds. My husband just said it compares to seeing hornets swarming a hornets nest.

quilter2

We have a squirrel that comes and eats at the feeders, we have so many doves and cardinals. I try to chase the squirrel away, he's a little pig. I don't know what happened to my hummingbirds, not 1 in about a week, a couple of days ago I saw one fly up and look at the feeder and fly away. It seems early for them to leave.

dsb38327

This has been an off year for our birds too. I am down at least 100 birds from previous years. It is funny how you get used to knowing things about them. We have noticed:
They come and go before and after a thunderstorm or long rain.
They come in groups, hungry and tired.
The birds in the group look alike. Bigger birds. Small birds. The ones with the red throat. The ones with the yellowish tint to their feathers. The long, slender, brilliant green ones.
They can be here and gone an hour later.
You think they have gone and they come in for the night feeding before they go to roost.
Question: Last night when they were going to roost the air was filled with a sound that would make you think it was crickets. I have noticed this before and never gave it a thought. I think it was the hummers going into their trance state. The sound was in the trees they were going into for roost.
Nikkilu, Jolo, Lady-T, will you listen for this sound when they go to roost. Please let me know what you think. Everyone help me listen, I just don't know if you will hear it if you don't have lots of birds. Please let me know.
It is beginning to rain.