Sweetsnuggles said:

That's a wonderful photo! I've also never had so many hummers visit, and am really going to miss them.

Thank you, I was a bit derelict in my photo attempts but started as I realized that they will be on their way to warmer lands.

How is everyone getting hummers but me?  

I "religiously" put out my feeder and refreshed my syrup frequently and had hanging pots with attractive flowers (much red)!  And I saw ONE hummer ONE time near the end of summer and nothing more.  That's one more than last year and the same as the year before.  (So two hummer visits in three years.   )

sac said:

How is everyone getting hummers but me?  

I "religiously" put out my feeder and refreshed my syrup frequently and had hanging pots with attractive flowers (much red)!  And I saw ONE hummer ONE time near the end of summer and nothing more.  That's one more than last year and the same as the year before.  (So two hummer visits in three years.   )

It's possible it has something to do with the surrounding gardens. I have a large garden and woods on my property so there is little human traffic during the day. As I said I went full tilt boogie on hummingbird plants this year. I'll take a photo but there is a sea of red salvia. I do know they return each year and I assume their offspring return so maybe it builds. Since they come and go so fast, it may require being home and around the garden frequently.

The beaches may be closed after Labor Day but the pool stays open!

I still have only one hummer left, who feeds only occasionally.  @morganna, do you know how they decide where to settle when they migrate up here?  I had 3 hummers last year and 3 hummers this year.  I wonder if they're the same ones.  And I also wonder why I don't have more.  I have a total of 4 feeders (2 on either side of the house), lots of red flowers (and other flowering plants/bushes).  My back yard has large mature trees and nobody goes back there, so they have all of it to themselves.

mumstheword said:

I still have only one hummer left, who feeds only occasionally.  @morganna, do you know how they decide where to settle when they migrate up here?  I had 3 hummers last year and 3 hummers this year.  I wonder if they're the same ones.  And I also wonder why I don't have more.  I have a total of 4 feeders (2 on either side of the house), lots of red flowers (and other flowering plants/bushes).  My back yard has large mature trees and nobody goes back there, so they have all of it to themselves.

I have read that they do return to the same location. At this time of year you might be seeing birds that were not your regulars. They are territorial so I never see more than 2 at a time. As I see them with greater frequency late in the summer it may be that they are just feeding more frequently as the little ones are growing and they all start attempting to gain weight for the long flight back.

This is a link to a photo gallery on a Hummingbird site.

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hummingbird-guide.com%2Fhummingbird-photo-gallery.html&h=ATOf83Pr7UB1oqJHlvmXg8cWn0Po5Inytm5SkSNo2ztuRq8SNEAvUDQ9XbYQyTPfs3b69MvCzUR9Xtaa0FW7f9Mtr8f6OYKVsNFIpaepeT80j5405MlmlvXU8ZOTcgwW2_eEmC-KpO_ZkzyJOowyqstFnGy6HChLGIw--6Y8sATGzCPCckPBEF2Ay9VHVHUoWl5Z0Z2tmL64iLvUk868Nj3ArxrWrw42GTtTVzPjZUs0ZtS3pHpI4m-_S7PrYG-zdZc3rzvcqNwUoeRBK80JkQJkuEHGPcU

Morganna said:

mumstheword said:

I still have only one hummer left, who feeds only occasionally.  @morganna, do you know how they decide where to settle when they migrate up here?  I had 3 hummers last year and 3 hummers this year.  I wonder if they're the same ones.  And I also wonder why I don't have more.  I have a total of 4 feeders (2 on either side of the house), lots of red flowers (and other flowering plants/bushes).  My back yard has large mature trees and nobody goes back there, so they have all of it to themselves.

I have read that they do return to the same location. At this time of year you might be seeing birds that were not your regulars. They are territorial so I never see more than 2 at a time. As I see them with greater frequency late in the summer it may be that they are just feeding more frequently as the little ones are growing and they all start attempting to gain weight for the long flight back.

I get so jealous of friends who show me pictures of houses with several feeders, and literally swarms of hummers feeding at one time.  The one is still around, so I'm grateful for his visits, while they last.  Thanks for the links!

I'm really sorry you can't see how startlingly white and breathtaking this group of sheltering waders were just a few minutes ago... It was raining and windy, and dawn was just breaking and they were huddling two houses down over the lake, just about out of camera range. I've enlarged the pic a bit, I hope the birds aren't too fuzzy...

That's lovely @joanne.

I've just seen the most unusual birds! Two huge red majestic creatures, soaring powerfully in the still of early morning light! 

I popped out to put the last forgotten bags of rubbish in the bins (the trucks will come past in a few minutes), and I half-heard a dull roar as I turned around. Looked up because a flight of magpies swooped at me. And then I saw them!

Two magnificent hot air balloons, very soon after take-off so they were still breathing fire to fill the balloons and ascend. The first had found the thermal it needed and wasn't firing as much; the second was travelling a little faster and rising faster too, as the pilot skilfully used short bursts of flame to correct their course (making the bag really glow like a jewel). 

Still close enough that I could wave and they would see me; far enough away that sounds wouldn't carry apart from the roar of the gas. 

Breathtaking. 

Hummers are still around. I hadn't seen any for a few days so I was thinking about taking down my feeder.  Then this one showed up.  Sorry for the lousy pic. 

Sweetsnuggles said:

Hummers are still around. I hadn't seen any for a few days so I was thinking about taking down my feeder.  Then this one showed up.  Sorry for the lousy pic. 

Yes please keep them up. We will get thirsty travelers coming from the north. I believe that I wrote that I bought Lobelia Cardinalis months ago and it was off to a very lazy start. I'll post a picture as it grew a few feet tall with odd little red flowers that puzzled me because I couldn't imagine where they would have nectar as it is one petal. Yesterday I saw a Hummer drinking from them. It seems behind the single petal is nectar in what looks like a stem. Fascinating.

@morganna - Your Lobelia Cardinalis is beautiful! I planted some in May, but they didn't survive. I will try again next year.  The hummers really  enjoyed my Jacob Cline Monarda, so I'm going to add more of it next year. 

Sweetsnuggles said:

@morganna - Your Lobelia Cardinalis is beautiful! I planted some in May, but they didn't survive. I will try again next year.  The hummers really  enjoyed my Jacob Cline Monarda, so I'm going to add more of it next year. 

I posted a picture from the internet, didn't have a chance to take one from my garden. 

I bought Monkshood at the plant fair which grew to 51/2' ! Wild looking flowers.

I kept the Lobelia moist so give that a try. My Crocosmia was ravaged by Woodchucks! The flowers were gorgeous but disappeared as soon as they opened. I noticed the leave turned brown quickly. I was hoping the Hummers would get a chance to sip from them. I was so discouraged that I dug them up and gave them to Bigben. My Coneflowers, planted for Goldfinches, came back but struggled against the Woodchucks as well. A few made it but are not robust.

Saw a Hummer today begin to fly into my garage. Very odd.

sight of the day: enormous red-bodied dragonfly buzzing over the heads of a couple of ducks playing courting games on the edge of the lake just now ... Very pretty dragonfly, you could almost wear it as a large jewelled lapel pin. 

Must be mating season: two duck- hens being chased by very earnest drakes, the hens swimming fairly fast and straight, calling 'leave me alone!' And the drakes bouncing in acrobatics to pounce on them, 'you don't mean that!'.

Saw a Hummer today so they are still migrating. Advice is to keep the feeder up 2 weeks after the last sighting.

meant to post this about 10 hours ago, when I took the pics: these pelicans were the size of large swans! We think they must be a mated pair, they flew and fished/fed together, then after maybe 20 minutes they gracefully launched into the sky and headed to the beach... 

oh, the waterlilies are starting to bloom. Did I mention this already? And I heard cicadas and treefrogs last night; summer's here. 

Those pelicans are beautiful.

And here for the Hummingbird enthusiasts, still seeing them, today sipping the Lobelia Cardinalis , yesterday at the feeder.

sounds like a good season, finally, for the hummers

Morganna said:

Those pelicans are beautiful.

And here for the Hummingbird enthusiasts, still seeing them, today sipping the Lobelia Cardinalis , yesterday at the feeder.

Mine have all flown the coop.  Haven't seen even the one remaining hummer in about 5 days.  :-(

A wonderful bird is the pelican,

His bill can hold more than his beli-can,

He can take in his beak,

Food enough for the week, 

But damned, if I see how the heli-can.

Bennett Cerf

A twitching friend mentioned pelicans mate for life - fun fact of the day. 

We’ve had a continuous 48 hours of rain, with more predicted in a storm later today. I can definitely confirm ducks of several species don’t like rain. They don’t mind the after-rain period, with fresh water sluicing through everything, higher water levels, juicy reeds and grasses, adventurous slugs etc. But they’re not really into the actual rainy period and the longer it goes on, the more miserable they become. 

On the other hand plovers and herons were almost skipping through the wet grass on the bank opposite us this morning, instead of their usual stately walk. Quite cute to see. 

Hot air balloons rising again this morning - startled two flocks of cockatoo or corellas (smaller, prettier cockatoo), who just flew overhead screeching raucously, disturbing the ducks, who just began quacking and honking back in alarm calls all over the lake. This set the  local frogs going... oh my! What a racket!!

Haven't seen a Hummer since the 27th so I'm following conventional wisdom and leaving the feeder up for 2 weeks after the sighting so I'll take my feeder down on October 12th. My Lobelia Cardinalis is still blooming as well as the annual red salvia so there is plenty of nectar for those that missed the early flight.

Time to sign up for Project Feeder Watch!

FeederWatch eNews: Announcements Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.

Black-capped Chickadee by Cheryl Fagner in Paradise, Newfoundland

Project FeederWatch eNews October 4, 2017   The first day to count is November 11 The first day to count birds for the 2017-18 FeederWatch season is Saturday, November 11. This year the season runs through April 13. If you haven't already, sign up right away to be sure your ID number is activated and your kit arrives in time for the start of the season. We look forward to hearing about the birds coming to your feeders!

I love community projects like the Cornell study above. Hope you all have fun joining in!

Had a couple of wonderful surprises in the last 15 hours or so: driving home last evening, lots of birdy babies everywhere, ducklings, Marsh hen chicks, heron chicks...families out for an evening stroll. Usually the driving speed limit is 10koh, I was lucky to crawl at around 5-8!!

This morning, around 5 am this pretty sight greeted me: usually we call them ‘bin chickens’ or ‘rubbish dump birds’ but they were really looking regal and pristine white in the rising sunshine.

sorry the magnification isn’t great. I don’t think those were jabiru, they behaved too much like ibises.

We were out and about by 6am, coming home just after 7am... two drives up this patient pair of mane-headed ducks just dawdled, while the ducklings were still on the lakeside end of the other property taking their time getting out of the nest... [our part of the lake is on your right, down that driveway - all the houses on our side back onto the lake. The ducks are facing a driveway across the street, where the other houses back onto a green then a bend of the lake)

(Sun was in my eyes, I’m not sure what you’ll be able to see well)

Ducks in the driveway?, I'm sure I've posted my turkeys in the driveway, wintertime. Thankfully my watch cat is not turning over the car keys. I'm against outdoor cats but this neighborhood kitty moved into my yard and I have been trying to convince her to live indoors. She won't let me pick her up but she trusts me enough to now climb into the hammock with me. In time, I'm sure we will have that talk. She is unfazed by birds big and small.

Their feathers are gorgeous - our bush turkeys look fairly plain in comparison!

No-one in this complex is allowed to have a companion animal (I'm guessing if you need a service dog that would be different), you can't even have a goldfish in a bowl let alone a bird in a cage on your balcony. (In fact you're only allowed a table and chairs on your balcony)

The wild birds have free reign and literally wander everywhere.