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Hummingbirds - Bird Talk.

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Pohemi said:
View attachment 95278

A friend of mine took this shot in one of their backyard trees. Not the first one I've seen in the wild, but the first time I saw one perched in a tree. I usually see them either airborne or standing in fields like the Sandhill cranes do.

Sorry, didn't mean to derail the thread. Back to the hummers!
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Great picture.

No worries about derailing this thread. Let's make it a bird talk thread. All birds All the time.

Bird 2.jpeg

Like the time this peacock decided to talk a stroll through our backyard.
 
Stopsignhank said:
Great picture.

No worries about derailing this thread. Let's make it a bird talk thread. All birds All the time.

View attachment 95319

Like the time this peacock decided to talk a stroll through our backyard.
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We had neighbors who thought pea fowl were appropriate for a residential neighborhood…several neighbors called the city…those beautiful screaming bastages were gone within a couple of weeks.
 
Can we add bees? Unfortunately they don't show up well on my cell phone, so you'll just have to take my word that there are about a dozen in this shot of a peach tree in full bloom several weeks early.

BeesInTrees.jpg


There's an old oak tree about a half mile away that is loaded with them. The whole tree buzzes on a warm day and I can see hundredes of them working in and out of a knothole that serves as the entrance.
 
dank69 said:
We can't get more than one or two because the little assholes chase any other ones off.
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I figure that'll happen with me. Plan is to get another, put it maybe 4-6 feet away. It'll be hard to chase them off two feeders.
 
Cardinals will do the same defense thing. I have two normal feeders, a tray feeder and two suet cages within a few feet of each other. I get 6-10 pairs of Cardinals and a variety of other birds. The Cardinals will bump each other out of the way, but not bother any of the others.
 
They nest, or roost under my awnings. I find piles of droppings in a couple of places only to find out Cardinals are sitting on the rafters overnight or during storms. They don't seem to build nests as far as I can tell. Not sure where they raise their young.

Then I see nests of mud, grass and moss. The bird is very small, sparrow size. Maybe a House Wren. There was one last year and after it was abandoned over the winter and beginning to rot and fall apart, I took it down. There is now a brand new one, in exactly the same spot. Bird goes nuts where I get near it. Found another one too under a different waning, none there last year.

I've got one of those inspection mirror on a stick things, so I can check them for eggs later.
 
That is what is so crazy about what I have going on right now, the sheer number of HBs all in one area. It is funny because one little dude will get all upset and try and chase away a bird, only for a different one to take the bullies place. Thanks to Crotulus I have seen the difference in the birds. I thought they were all read headed ones, but now I see a lot of purple headed ones.
All this activity is taking place right before sundown when they are all trying to fill their bellies before night. I stand there with the sun behind me and they really glow in the light. These are not that, these are just to show how crazy it has gotten.

https://imgur.com/a/7irOGs9


https://imgur.com/a/qrIHHgR
 
Lost_in_the_HTTP said:
They nest, or roost under my awnings. I find piles of droppings in a couple of places only to find out Cardinals are sitting on the rafters overnight or during storms. They don't seem to build nests as far as I can tell. Not sure where they raise their young.

Then I see nests of mud, grass and moss. The bird is very small, sparrow size. Maybe a House Wren. There was one last year and after it was abandoned over the winter and beginning to rot and fall apart, I took it down. There is now a brand new one, in exactly the same spot. Bird goes nuts where I get near it. Found another one too under a different waning, none there last year.

I've got one of those inspection mirror on a stick things, so I can check them for eggs later.
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Nice! Love hearing the babies chirp. There used to be some nests in our patio, we loved to see mom and dad fly bag with bugs in their mouth, feed the little ones and then fly right back out to go get more bugs.
 
My Kingsyard HBF's are supposed to come within the next 5 hours. Meantime I ordered a couple of the best budget HBF's recommended at southernliving.com's 10 best HBF's page, the $4.18 at Walmart. I occasionally order for free delivery at Walmart, so I tucked them into an order. Probably come tomorrow. So, I figure to have a large triangle of HBFs in the backyard, to confuse any would be HB bully, two of the Walmart cheapies and a Kingsyard.

The cheapie at Walmart doesn't have an ant moat, but they are easily made DIY. Watched a video yesterday.

Doing yard work the last couple days I spotted a HB. It hangs out at the very top of one of my plum trees, about 30 feet off the ground. It perches at the very highest twig, always in the same spot and looks around. From time to time it darts off for a few minutes and comes back.
 
Muse said:
My Kingsyard HBF's are supposed to come within the next 5 hours. Meantime I ordered a couple of the best budget HBF's recommended at southernliving.com's 10 best HBF's page, the $4.18 at Walmart. I occasionally order for free delivery at Walmart, so I tucked them into an order. Probably come tomorrow. So, I figure to have a large triangle of HBFs in the backyard, to confuse any would be HB bully, two of the Walmart cheapies and a Kingsyard.

The cheapie at Walmart doesn't have an ant moat, but they are easily made DIY. Watched a video yesterday.

Doing yard work the last couple days I spotted a HB. It hangs out at the very top of one of my plum trees, about 30 feet off the ground. It perches at the very highest twig, always in the same spot and looks around. From time to time it darts off for a few minutes and comes back.
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Good luck. If you have seen one then once you put out the feeders you will probably see more.
 
Stopsignhank said:
Good luck. If you have seen one then once you put out the feeders you will probably see more.
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I know they are around here. Don't know if they migrate away from here part of the year. You're in SoCal, right? Are they with you all year?

I made ant moats today for the 2 cheap ($4.18) HB feeders I received today from Walmart. I could put out my triangle of feeders tomorrow, approximately equilateral with over 20 feet between them. One of them is a Kingsyard, like yours, but it's red.

Been preparing planting beds for my tomatoes and kabocha squash.
 
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Muse said:
I know they are around here. Don't know if they migrate away from here part of the year. You're in SoCal, right? Are they with you all year?
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Anna's hummingbird sticks around the entire US west coast all year. Costa's hummingbird are found around SoCal and down into baja. The others (black chinned, rufous, etc.) will migrate up your way from Mexico.

The Cornell Lab is a good resource on all things bird -
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/
 
Muse said:
I know they are around here. Don't know if they migrate away from here part of the year. You're in SoCal, right? Are they with you all year?

I made ant moats today for the 2 cheap ($4.18) HB feeders I received today from Walmart. I could put out my triangle of feeders tomorrow, approximately equilateral with over 20 feet between them. One of them is a Kingsyard, like yours, but it's red.

Been preparing planting beds for my tomatoes and kabocha squash.
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I'm in western WA. In January when it dropped down into the teens at night...and only warmed into the low 20s during the day, I still had Anna's demanding to be fed. the heated feeder I had kept the bottom part liquid even though the top "jar" part froze. The other feeder I brought in at night, then put it out for 3-4 hours until it started freezing up again, then back in the house to thaw...repeated that until it stayed warm enough that it didn't freeze at night. Be prepared to change the juice weekly...even if they don't drink it all. It will "ferment" and/or mold...both of which can be toxic to the little terrorists. Oh...and do NOT use any kind of soap product when cleaning your feeders. Most dish soaps and the like leave a residue that can also be toxic. I use 140 degree tap water and vinegar to clean mine.
 
Stopsignhank said:
Good luck. If you have seen one then once you put out the feeders you will probably see more.
Click to expand...
I will probably put out 3 feeders in a triangle today. I've got them prepared. Well, I haven't unboxed the Kingsyard yet, but figure it's probably basically ready to go. The 4 buck Walmart firstnature.net ones, I decided, needed some work. Took me a while to figure out how to disassemble them. I also modified them in an effort to enhance their effectiveness. See the little pieces of yellow tape I affixed to help the HB's to find access to the fluid:

Livingnature (CLOSEUP) Hummingbird feeder enhanced.jpgLivingnature Hummingbird feeder enhanced.jpg
 
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BoomerD said:
I'm in western WA. In January when it dropped down into the teens at night...and only warmed into the low 20s during the day, I still had Anna's demanding to be fed. the heated feeder I had kept the bottom part liquid even though the top "jar" part froze. The other feeder I brought in at night, then put it out for 3-4 hours until it started freezing up again, then back in the house to thaw...repeated that until it stayed warm enough that it didn't freeze at night. Be prepared to change the juice weekly...even if they don't drink it all. It will "ferment" and/or mold...both of which can be toxic to the little terrorists. Oh...and do NOT use any kind of soap product when cleaning your feeders. Most dish soaps and the like leave a residue that can also be toxic. I use 140 degree tap water and vinegar to clean mine.
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Bringing the sugar water to a boil helps slow fermenting/molding but it will happen eventually.
 
IronWing said:
Bringing the sugar water to a boil helps slow fermenting/molding but it will happen eventually.
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Definitely. No stopping it…that’s why it’s recommended that the juice gets changed out at least once per week. Boiling the water helps to fully dissolve the sugar…and (allegedly) helps to neutralize some of the “crap” that might be in the tap water.
 
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