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When will the Hummingbirds Leave ??? (2 Viewers)

Bobbo

Active member
This is my 1st year really observing and feeding hummers , When will they start to migrate south ? I see people saying that since i'm in NJ hummers will leave usually in September ... Is this accurate ? Do any of you out there have strays that stay longer or all winter for that matter ?
 
September sounds about right for your area if I remember correctly (formerly a Staten Islander) but don't take your feeders down and you might be pleasantly surprised. ;)

Once, so far, I've had one juvie hummer that spent the winter with me. I know Myrtle Beach sounds warm but it was a tough and very cold winter and I had to wind up installing a warming light over the feeder so the nectar wouldn't freeze.
 
I'm assuming they mean the end of September ... I'll probably leave my feeder up till at least Halloween ....
 
Once, so far, I've had one juvie hummer that spent the winter with me. I know Myrtle Beach sounds warm but it was a tough and very cold winter and I had to wind up installing a warming light over the feeder so the nectar wouldn't freeze.

You da man!

Well, I'm hoping that some of the hummers will stay the winter--I think it's a good chance here in the desert.
 
October 10 and october 21 are two Last Bird dates here in the smoky mtns of north carolina. I bet september 31 will be close to lift-off in your area.
 
Once, so far, I've had one juvie hummer that spent the winter with me. I know Myrtle Beach sounds warm but it was a tough and very cold winter and I had to wind up installing a warming light over the feeder so the nectar wouldn't freeze.

Are you the one that Sheri L. Williamson talks about in her book, Hummingbirds of North America? On page 36:

Occasionally a hummingbird will linger into winter in a climate in which its only chance of survival is through human intervention. . . . The choice then becomes whether to let nature take its course or make an open-ended commitment to a bird in need. At the very least this entails providing thawed feeder solution up to several times each day, beginning at dawn.
 
Well, I'm hoping that some of the hummers will stay the winter--I think it's a good chance here in the desert.

Yeah, with your climate I would have thought you’d gets lots of over-wintering Hummingbirds. Even in Reno, with freezing night time temperatures & snow on the ground, we get the occasional Anna’s Hummer at backyard feeders on the Xmas counts. These are probably strays from eastern California. Black-chinned hummers (the local breeders) & the various passage migrants (Calliopes, Rufous, Broad-tailed) coming through in the late summer & fall never stick around for the winter.
 
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Yeah, with your climate I would have thought you’d gets lots of over-wintering Hummingbirds.

This is the first year for us feeding the hummingbirds. Tucson is at 2500 feet so, even though it rarely goes below the high 20s at night, we can get cold nights--I've seen 18 F myself. And the records show single digits on occasion. The normal lows are in the upper 30s to low 40s. The good thing is that even after a cold night it usually warms up to 50 F during the day. So, I'm hoping a few will stay. We'll see.
 
It's a listserv for Hummingbird nutters. ;) It's neat because you usually get word on first sightings for the year as well as first sightings of vagrant Hummers and it covers all of the US. Let me know if you are interested and I'll PM a link to you. It involves emails only.
 
Our males are completely gone now and our females are getting more scarce
all the time. The latest I can recall seeing them is the second week of
September.
It is so sad when they vanish. :-C I miss all the antics, fights and the shear beauty they share with us.
 
It's a listserv for Hummingbird nutters. ;) It's neat because you usually get word on first sightings for the year as well as first sightings of vagrant Hummers and it covers all of the US. Let me know if you are interested and I'll PM a link to you. It involves emails only.

Please do. And thanks!
 
Our males are completely gone now and our females are getting more scarce
all the time. The latest I can recall seeing them is the second week of
September.
It is so sad when they vanish. :-C I miss all the antics, fights and the shear beauty they share with us.

It must be a wondrous event in the Spring when they arrive again.

I was reading in Sheri's book (Hummingbirds of North America) that no matter how abundant the flowers or feeding stations are, the hummingbirds will migrate when they deem the time is right.
 
This is the first year for us feeding the hummingbirds. Tucson is at 2500 feet so, even though it rarely goes below the high 20s at night, we can get cold nights--I've seen 18 F myself. And the records show single digits on occasion. The normal lows are in the upper 30s to low 40s. The good thing is that even after a cold night it usually warms up to 50 F during the day. So, I'm hoping a few will stay. We'll see.

I'm in the foothills near Sabino and I have multiple species of hummers year-round. I'd venture that my property is Costa's central, in fact.


Just keep your feeders up and the juice fresh and you'll be rewarded!
 
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