Ruby throad hummingbirds

I just put out my feeder for the ruby throad and was already visited today. I truly enjoy those birds. Sometimes they come right up to you and hover right in front of your face like they are communicating with you.

They fight like hell with each other for the rights to the feeder.

I feed the birds year around. I also feed the ducks and geese beside my deck. The prettiest ducks I have are the wood ducks.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

I know what you mean, Mr. Smith, about enjoying the Hummingbirds. They are so fascinating and so beautiful.

While we lived in Arizona, I really got up close and acquainted with many of them. I had a little tree off my patio from which I had a feeder and the birds not only thronged to the feeder, but they would come onto the porch and fly around my head (looking for gray hair from which to make their nest). On occasion, in the summer during the Monsoon season when we would have occasional storms, they would come onto the porch and cling to the stucco to stay out of the rain and hail.

Another time I was holding the feeder while my husband was getting the ladder ready to hang it in the free, and a Hummingbird came to the feeder and ate while I was holding it. That was a thrill. Also, have watched them nesting in the Oleanders along our driveway. They were so sweet sitting in their little nests and watching everything that passed beneath them.

Isn't Nature awesome?

Donna

!

Once, while camping in a state park in southern Ohio my grandson looked down when he felt something stramge on his right foot and there was a ruby-throated hummingbird trying to suck nectar from a red spot on his shoe. I managed to get a picture of it and and used it to help illustrate a story I later wrote. By the way, he said it tickled.

The hummers are back in my yard month or more. They always come back around the time of the blooming of my first roses. They especially love the fragrance of my jasmine, which is yet to bloom.

When I had outdoor cats, they were pretty agressive "buzzing" close over their heads, which provided much amusement to all of us.

This link shows a lady who has mastered the art, and garnered the trust to hand feed her local hummers.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/hummingbirds.asp

ohhh!! I love hummingbirds. Especially my hubby. He's so fascinated by them! In fact, Hummingbird is my pet name for him .
they are so beautiful and it's fun to watch them be so stingy with the feeder!!!

The desert flowers are in full bloom right now and the hummingbirds cant seem to get enough of my ocatillo flowers!! I don't feed them because I don't want them dependent on me for their food source. They need to be maintained every day and the bees are also competing with them for the feeders. I have seen hummingbirds stung to death by Africanized bees because they were competing for the same food source. We have a lot of other natural wildlife around here like coyotes, javelina, quail, cottontail rabbits, desert hares, rattle snakes, wild cats, and such,not to mention rattle snakes so I don't want to start a food chain in my back yard. My mom used to feed the quail and it brought down the wild cats into her yard and then it wasn't safe to be outdoors after dark. Be careful what you feed as they might come back to haunt you.

David O.

We have a lot of Hummingbirds in the area here in Southern Indiana. I have noticed that they seem to be smaller than the ones we watched out in SoCal (High Desert area). We do have some of the Ruby-Throated birds, but most of ours are a more subdued tan colored bird...maybe more females than males, or immature birds that don't have their adult coloring. In SoCal the birds were brilliant green, with the red-throat standing out like a flashing light !!

On the east coast we tend to have only Ruby throats and Rufous hummingbirds. The west coast has many more species.

I was birding in Costa Rica a couple of years ago and we saw at least a dozen species at one time at the dozen of feeders that was available..

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

We have lots of rufus hummingbirds in the front range of the Rockies. I have friends who live a few miles into the mountains who had feeders on their deck, and when I would sit outside reading (when I was housesitting), they would whirl around my head. I would sit very still and just drink them in....It was a great experience.