Aug 2007 HummerSince you all know that I'm GardenHere's resident crazed hummingbird fanatic, I thought I would start sharing my observations with you. I watch the hummers intently because their behavior just intrigues me. The hummers arrived about 2 weeks ago. It was a while before I saw the first one venture to my feeders. I was dutifully filling and cleaning the feeders every few daysin the hope that the fresh nectar would lure them sooner. It didn't work. The reality is that they will come when they are good and ready. Then they finally did.....I must have seen the first one sometime last week. So far, it seems as though all the hummers I am observing are male ruby throats. This is typical.

For the last several days, I've been attempting to observe behavior. At first, there was a great deal of predictability as to when they'd come feed at my feeders. I have 5 feeders out. Unfortunately, there are a bunch of kids who like to ride bikes through the area, and along the sidewalk that is right next to the area where I plant things. The noise and traffic that these kids bring when they come through bothers the hummers a lot. They fly away from my feeders when the kids are around. (I may have to make my place child unfriendly to keep the hummers around!) Generally, they would feed early in the morning right about the time it got light.....the sun hasn't come up yet, but they come and feed anyway. At the moment, only one bird will come to the feeders at a time. In past years, they've been really territorial and I've had some bullies who would do anything to keep other hummers away. To remedy that, I put up five feeders for the moment, and will put up more if necessary.

The hummer who is currently visiting me (I think there is one regular) is a Ruby Throated Male. Now he comes to eat whenever he feels like it -- throughout the day, not just in the morning or at dusk. There aren't enough flowers in bloom yet to provide them with nectar. This little guy is very funny! I think he knows that I watch him. He acts like he can see what I'm doing by looking into my living room window. Two feeders are hanging from a pole with two hooks and they are in easy view of my living room window. Another feeder is hanging from a hook that my husband drilled into the wood above our patio. That feeder will be shielded from the view of the others by an upside down tomato planter. This little guy plays hide and seek with me all day long. When he comes to the feeder, sometimes he'll stop at one of the ports where he's fully visible -- ruby throat and all. The moment he suspects that I'm watching him (he must be self conscious about having humans watch him eat,) he moves to a port where I can scarcely see anything but the end of his tail hanging down. We repeat this ritual nearly every time he comes to feed.

I'm determined to get a hummer to feed from my hand this year. I saw a video in which some man had loads of feeders all over his balcony and yard, and he got hummers to feed right out of his hand. I'm going to use this as reference material.

Check the video out for yourselves. It's really phenomenal!

Hummingbird Video

I will post more entries with my observations throughout the season! This is just the first, and the full population hasn't arrived yet.