Humming Birds

[MoNatureMan]

I am nude when on the porch of my farm as much as possible and my Hummingbirds are not afraid of me. So far this year I have had about 40 of them here at one time. Currently have 6 feeders up. 4 to 7 lb of sugar a week is not uncommon. Last week, I had just refilled a feeder and a Hummingbird was hoovering as I was rehanging the feeder - just waiting.



Whenever clothed people from the area stop by, my Hummingbirds are still here, but much more careful. So much so, that is hard for them to get a good picture.
Maybe the coloring of clothes or something scares them.

Ron

[ezduzit]

I suspect they are accustomed to you and the lack of clothes . My sons inlaws have several feeders and the birds have no fear of clothed people , and will hover very close by .
First time I saw them it was amazing so many so close
Ez

[Petros]

Our hummers are by no means so numerous, but do not seem skittish.

[MoNatureMan]

My hummingbirds have inspired me to make another video.
On Youtube I call it 'My Hummingbirds'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=addnuWGCMBU
And on Godtube I call it 'Hummingbirds and God'.
http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=0MBFMCNU
It is less then 3 min long and shows a movie of my birds and talks about them as part of God's great creation.

I think this video is just another way to help spread the truth of a great Creator God.

In Him
Ron

[Bare_Truth]

I am nude when on the porch of my farm as much as possible and my Hummingbirds are not afraid of me..... Whenever clothed people from the area stop by, my Hummingbirds are still here, but much more careful. So much so, that is hard for them to get a good picture. .....

I do not know how sophisticated your camera is, but if it has a feature that mine there is something you could do. My camera has a time lapse feature and can take up to 99 pictures at intervals as short as one minute. That is a bit over 1.5 hours. If you could set up such a camera on a tripod, aimed at your feeders you might get some interesting pictures out of the lot. The tripod should make sure that they are sharper than hand held photos.

We feed the humming birds too, but every so often we get a bully or two who wants all that sugar for him/her-self an unsociable sort that tries to run off others even though there are 6 or more outlets on the feeder and only the two of them.

Another problem we have is that we occasionally get wasps that want to sit on the feeder and glut themselves, and they tend to keep the humming birds away. Given their sizes, I suppose that a wasp sting might be lethal to a humming bird.

Perhaps, the next time I come by I could bring my camera and tripod and get some pictures.

Bare_Truth

[Petros]

It is said that hummingbirds have a temper. All that sugar?

[MoNatureMan]

We feed the humming birds too, but every so often we get a bully or two who wants all that sugar for him/her-self an unsociable sort that tries to run off others even though there are 6 or more outlets on the feeder and only the two of them.

I have played with them on that issue. If you have one bird that is chasing others off, move the feeder to a different location. Maybe only 3or4 feet away. The bird then finds itself protecting nothing. A lot of the chasing seems to be nothing but a game for them anyway. I have seen 2 birds fighting, then all of a sudden they both stop - take a sugar break - then go back to fighting again. I have also seen a bird feeding, but can't help but join the chase of others that go flying by.

Ron

[MoNatureMan]

Ready for spring.
Inventory is over 70 lb of sugar in stock, and 14 available feeders.

Another hummingbird joke is
'They hum because they don't know how to sing'.

My hummingbirds are coming to my front porch, in about a month. Males first to developed the nesting, followed by about 10-14 days, the females.

Ron

[webmeister]

My hummingbirds have inspired me to make another video.
On Youtube I call it 'My Hummingbirds'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=addnuWGCMBU
And on Godtube I call it 'Hummingbirds and God'.
http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=0MBFMCNU
It is less then 3 min long and shows a movie of my birds and talks about them as part of God's great creation.

I think this video is just another way to help spread the truth of a great Creator God.

In Him
Ron

Really great video Ron, thanks...

[New_Adventurer]

On numerous occasions I have been sitting motionless in my hot tub with still water and a humming bird flying between our trees and garden plants has grazed my hair. Interesting sound, a short low-pitch hum for maybe a half second with a definite Doppler shift, almost like a chirp. Years ago I was walking across the lawn at my naturist club and a big crow slowly flew over with its wings making a whoosh-whoosh-whoosh sound. The joys of nature.

Yesterday morning a opossum went walking across the fence top from one neighbor to the other neighbor and continued onto a third neighbor until it was out of sight. I have also been ignored by the squirrels, cats, doves, sea gulls, ducks, and geese.

[Maverick]

On numerous occasions I have been sitting motionless in my hot tub with still water and a humming bird flying between our trees and garden plants has grazed my hair. Interesting sound, a short low-pitch hum for maybe a half second with a definite Doppler shift, almost like a chirp. Years ago I was walking across the lawn at my naturist club and a big crow slowly flew over with its wings making a whoosh-whoosh-whoosh sound. The joys of nature.

Yesterday morning a opossum went walking across the fence top from one neighbor to the other neighbor and continued onto a third neighbor until it was out of sight. I have also been ignored by the squirrels, cats, doves, sea gulls, ducks, and geese.

I live in the suburbs but we have a decent amount of wildlife, partly because there is a large field behind our backyard. We used to see hummingbirds years ago--not so much anymore, although I bet if we put a feeder up we would see more of them.

We also used to see monarch butterflies during migration--haven't seen them at all for a long time. I hope that's just because their migration pattern might have changed.

Every once in a while we will hear a report of a coyote or two roaming the neighborhood at night. I've never seen one myself though.

I took the dog out yesterday and witnessed nature's version of air combat: a hawk vs three crows. First it was just Big Hawk vs. Little Crow, but Little Crow's two wingmen came in out of nowhere and flanked Big Hawk. They went at it for a minute or so until BIg Hawk bugged out, and the three crows disengaged. I get the feeling that Big Hawk was the aggressor in this case by invading the crows' territory.

[Jim]

I took the dog out yesterday and witnessed nature's version of air combat: a hawk vs three crows. First it was just Big Hawk vs. Little Crow, but Little Crow's two wingmen came in out of nowhere and flanked Big Hawk. They went at it for a minute or so until BIg Hawk bugged out, and the three crows disengaged. I get the feeling that Big Hawk was the aggressor in this case by invading the crows' territory.

Maybe the hawk was the aggressor this time, but I've seen this happen in a place I see the hawk almost every time I pass. I don't think crows respect hawk territory.

[New_Adventurer]

Birds and cats make for interesting viewing.

My old cat was being attacked by a large jay, swooping down and pecking it on the back. The last time it happened the cat leapt up and swatted the bird to the ground, but the bird got up and flew away before the cat could pounce on it. That bird never bothered the cat again.

My son's little black cat was a good hunter. The mocking birds liked to walk on the grass to harvest bugs, but one day the cat harvested one of them. She just sauntered up and grabbed it. I suspect the cat was injured or ill prior to this. She is now a 19 year old lap cat that can barely move and likes to sit in warm places.

My daughters cat was a lap sitter. If the cat was in the house and you came in and sat down the cat would jump up and sit on your lap within a minute.

A slogan my son adopted was, "If you want the best seat in the house, move the cat."

[MoNatureMan]

The good old war between crows and Hawks is great to watch. Enjoy watching it every year. Lots of stories.

Back to hummingbirds. They not only eat/drink sugar water (or nectar), they eat bugs. The over use of pesticides and GMOs with the pesticides inside the seed/plant hurts the insect population. The pesticides in the plant may also be hurting the pollinating hummingbirds. With lack of insect food, hummingbirds go elsewhere for food, like my hobby farm that is pesticide free. Will probably have 35-50 hummingbird residents this year. Would have more, but I got others in area interested in hummingbirds and they have stolen some of my friends LOL.

With all my hummingbirds around, I seldom have any mosquitoes.

Ron

[MoNatureMan]

Great weather is almost here. I just put out my first hummingbird feeder. Expect to see a couple males by end of next week. After they get nest in order the females will start to show up about 2 weeks later.
I wonder how long my massive stockpile of sugar will last?

In Him
Ron