Do you still have hummingbirds in your area of the country? You can respond to us in the comments section of this blog entry below or send us an email.
We still have hummingbirds here in southern New Hampshire. This photo was taken several days ago. This looks like a fat hummingbird but its not. It's just a Ruby-throated Hummingbird drinking nectar from our Salvia coccinea "Lady in Red" annual plant early in the cool morning, so the hummer is a little cold and fluffed up. As of this morning we still have humingbirds drinking from the salvia.
Hummingbirds have been here all week. This is a little unusual, since last year we saw our last hummingbird on Sept. 13th. Then again, the weather has been unseasonably warm here.
Interestingly, most of the hummers we have been seeing have only been coming to the salvia and ignoring the feeders. Many of these are young humingbirds and it makes us wonder if they are just not familiar with feeders yet.
So glad we planted the salvia. We keep singing its praises. Salvia coccinea Lady in Red is an annual, available from nurseries in the spring as 6 packs. Or you can grown your own from seed, available from such sources as Burpee Seed Co.
8 comments:
I live in Minneapolis, and I still have at least a couple hummers. I've had one for at least a week, and I feel sorry for the little fella because it appears that he has a deformed beak and about a 1/2 inch of the tip of his tongue appears to be dead.
We are located in SW Michigan and still had juvenile hummers yesterday (9/27) but probably just one or two.
We have had several people write to us about their hummers:
Mary from Indiana said,
"2 Ruby-throated females still at my feeders in Indianapolis. Cuties!"
Shannah in Indiana said,
"WE LIVE IN NORTHERN INDIANA AND SAW A JUVENILE HUMMINGBIRD COME BY SEVERAL TIMES YESTERDAY TO OUR FEEDER. HAVEN'T SEEN IT AT ALL "TODAY. WE HAVE HAD A COUPLE NIGHTS NOW IN THE 40S.
I ALSO SAW 2 CHICKADEES COME TO OUR THISTLE FEEDER (SOCK) AND A FAMILY OF YELLOW FINCHES. THEY CAME AT THE SAME TIME. DO YOU SUPPOSE THEY ARE HANGING OUT TOGETHER? OR JUST COINCIDENCE? ABOUT 3 WEEKS AGO I SAW A TREE SPARROW GATHERING SEVERAL MOTHS AT A TIME IN HER BEAK THEN FLYING UP TO OUR BLUE SPRUCE. COULD SHE BE FEEDING SOME BABIES? I JUST WONDERED BECAUSE IT'S SEEMS KINDA CLOSE TO (DARE I SAY IT) WINTER.
I LOVED YOUR BEAUTIFUL PICTURES. ESPECIALLY OF THE MOON. THANKS.
SHANNAH"
Marie from Tennessee said,
"Here in East Tennessee, I've had more rubythroats
than I've ever had and I have them longer than ever. Usually they are gone by Sept.22. They are
still coming around about 3 at a time."
I live in White Pigeon, MI. The last day I saw a hummer at the feeder was Thursday Sept 27.
The last hummingbird seen at home (in the foothills of the Adirondacks) was on September 13th.
I saw one in the Saratoga Springs Wild Birds Unlimited parking lot (no kidding!) on Wed, Sep 26, and a customer living just south of Saratoga saw one on Sun, Sep 30.
Could they be later because of delayed spring migration/nesting?
Hummingbirds were still visiting my feeders in downtown Madison, Wisconsin, on October 2.
We had two hummers on Oct. 8th in east central Illinois. The next day a cold front came through and I haven't seen them since. We also have bees in the fall at the feeders. This year we had a Summer Tanager camp out on the deck and take some of the bees. That was fun to watch.
I live an hour northwest of Indianapolis. An hour ago I had a female on one feeder, and what looked like a young male on a second feeder. Saturday was the last day I had seen one until last night and then to my surprise two tonight! I had decided to take my feeders down until the visit last night, so I did take them both down, cleaned and refilled them just in case any are still passing through. I had more hummers this fall than any year past. It was a little dangerous to be outside at times as they were coming from all directions.
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