Early Hummingbirds?

[so lucky]

Is there any chance that the hummingbirds will start their journey north early due to the unseasonably warm weather we have been having? I am wondering if we should put the feeders out early, just in case.

 

[lesa]

You know I was just saying asking the same question. I am not sure if their travels are temperature or day length, dependent. I think for the price of a cup of sugar, I am going to get my feeder out just in case!

 

[OldGuy43]

Mine stays out year around. I do need to refill it. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[Greenthumb18]

I've been wondering about this too, if the hummingbirds will start appearing earlier this year. I really want to set up a few feeders for them on my property in NC. Their are even perennials that flower and attract the hummingbirds, its kind of neat.

 

[so lucky]

I went ahead and put a feeder out yesterday, just in case. I read somewhere years ago that you could put something big and red out in the back yard near your feeder--they suggested a fabric cut-out of a flower shape, laid on the ground, to attract any hummers passing by. With the wind we've been having, I will need to use ground stakes to keep it from becoming a kite.
But on the other hand, do I want to be responsible for the poor hummers who might see my beacon and decide to stay, if we have a big ice storm and late spring? I had a Rufous stay till February a couple of years ago, and had to keep a heat lamp on the feeder to keep the food from freezing. I felt totally responsible for the little critter's life...and worry still that he may have frozen during the last bad storm we had.
Great! Another decision! The stress is getting to me already!

 

[digitS']

Well, here's a guess, So Lucky: If they show up in your neighborhood, I don't think they could turn around, head south and avoid a storm. My guess is that they'd just hunker down and have to tough it out. Your feeder may be the difference between them surviving or not.

That is just a guess. Cornell has wonderful online information on birds: Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (There's a contact button if you click those words - it's on the left side.) Cornell's All About Birds is a place I've gone often to see (& hear ) the birds.

This is what they say about . . . Hummingbirds in Winter. I read thru that page and found that it isn't quite current but it is interesting about the trend.

Steve

 

[so lucky]

Yes, I had read that somewhere before, about the Rufous wandering out of it's usual boundaries more and more. I think that one was the first Rufous I had ever seen. There is a website called "Journey North" I think, that lets you report your sightings during spring and fall migrations. I haven't been on it yet this year. Maybe I will hop over there now, to see if other folks farther south are sighting them early.

 

[Collector]

I think it is a good idea to get your feeders out early. One year we didnt get our feeders out early enuf and we never had any regular customers. I think they didnt find any feeders on thier first fly through and kept moving on. We dont let that happen anymore we are ready early!!

 

[so lucky]

Update: I checked with the Journey North web site, and they show many many sightings all the way up to the Canadian border, in the eastern half of the US, already this spring. So, get those feeders out, gardeners! They are about three weeks early, I'd say.
By the way, does anybody know how to keep the downy woodpeckers off the humming bird feeder? They love that sugar water!

 

[thistlebloom]

Update: I checked with the Journey North web site, and they show many many sightings all the way up to the Canadian border, in the eastern half of the US, already this spring. So, get those feeders out, gardeners! They are about three weeks early, I'd say.
By the way, does anybody know how to keep the downy woodpeckers off the humming bird feeder? They love that sugar water!

That's funny about the Downys So-Lucky. Ours have never visited the hummer feeders. Could you give them their own shallow dish on a perch maybe? Or I suppose you could hang your feeders in a large cage type contraption that a woodpecker wouldn't fit through.