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A lunchtime treat (1 Viewer)

Very nice!
I can't believe you have that many hummers at your house. The only time we see even two at the feeder, is when a second one comes up to run the other one off.
Enjoy!
 
emoxley said:
Very nice!
I can't believe you have that many hummers at your house. The only time we see even two at the feeder, is when a second one comes up to run the other one off.
Enjoy!
Click to expand...

I don't know the reason either Ed, it's not like there are any particular Hummingbird attracting plants around, it is going to take a while to get the garden that friendly and attractive. Last year, we saw a maximum of two at one time, this year has been wonderful!
 
This topic is the very reason I joined the forum. I recently added 10 more feeders , now I have a total of 15. The new feeders are lined up on my deck and I have been spending a lot more time out there watching them. A few days ago I was up early and having morning coffee on my deck and heard a commotion up above the deck, I looked up and there were dozens of Hummingbirds in a swarm up around the treetops. I was totally astounded, the most I had ever seen at one time was four. I was wondering if any of you had ever experienced something like this? I had never even heard of such a thing. Was I incredibly lucky or was this a fairly common occurance? I googled it and saw it mentioned a couple times but no indication of it being rare or an everyday thing.
 
I am like you Patte, I get mesmerised by them. Being English and having only been in the USA for just over a year, I supposed its the "newness" of everything for me. We do have some days busier than others but none as busy as your swarm!
 
For several days there were a remarkable number of them in my yard. They looked like bees swarming around my honeysuckle. It must have been a "flock" (what do you call a 'flock' of hummingbirds?) that were migrating, and just happened to notice them as they passed through. I haven't seen that many at the same time since. The most I've seen at one time since then is 6, but I think they just live in the neighborhood, I believe there are 2 that are nesting in my yard. But having this many feeders has definitely attracted more birds, my feeders are pretty busy all day long.
 
I have heard it called a "Charm" of hummingbirds and also a "Hover". Not sure I believe the last one though. I have also heard of a "Shimmer" of Hummingbirds. I think I prefer "Charm" but, being from the UK, a "Charm" was the collective noun for European Goldfinches.
 
From the "WhatBird" website:
A group of hummingbirds has many collective nouns, including a "bouquet", "glittering", " hover", "shimmer", and "tune" of hummingbirds.
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Also these: "A charm, chattering, drum, or troubling of hummingbirds."
 
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Wow, that is SO great! Don't have the pleasure of hummingbirds in Australia worse luck, but we do have some pretty nice kookaburras!
 
I have to admit that I never use the "collective nouns" when describing a "flock" of birds, but then again I'm not a real birder. I love to hear them and read them but I don't use them.

I wonder how many birders actually use the collective nouns. My hat is off for those that do for I am amazed they have them all memorized. :t:
 
KCFoggin said:
At least all yours seem to let the others sip in peace. Not at my house.
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I read somewhere that there is some sort of "critical mass" number of hummers where the feeder "owners" give up trying to fight off the "intruders" when they become too many. Do you know if this is true?
 
In my very limited experience I´d say "critical mass" concept is true! We had our apartment balcony feeder up for months and it was just "occupied" by single resident Indigo-capped Hummingbird who would chase off all-comers.

As the months went by, more and more hummers arrived and soon there was no chance for any one individual to dominate - chasing one off when 5 are sitting waiting on the balcony is a waste of energy.

Recently we went away for just 5 days so the feeder was left empty. On our return all the hummers abandoned our feeder. Now a Rufous-tailed has taken up territory and is dominating, but I give him a week or so before he's overwhelmed as the others return.

I can't say what the critical mass number is though - I guess at least 6 - 8?

A "Trouble" of hummingbirds sounds about right sometimes......
 
It took a couple of weeks for the "critical mass" of hummers to return to overwhelm the territorial individual.

Now it seems like there is a real "trouble" at times as we're often getting 10-12 around the balcony. There is no chance for one bird to dominate.

Interestingly I'm getting loads of visitors but our neighbours, who bought their feeders after seeing the success of mine, still only get a few at a time. The hummers seem to be very loyal!

http://youtu.be/FF3thtBj5l8
 
You´re welcome.

I think it's not uncommon in the tropics for the numbers to build up and stay that way once they know where the food is. Even so, I have been surprised that such numbers would come to a single feeder on a 5th floor balcony. We´re lucky to be on the edge of the city, so there is plenty of woodland nearby which surely helps.

Sadly (birdingwise) in a few months I'll be heading back to the UK, so I'm taking a few videos of the hummers to keep as memories. I've encouraged at least 8 of our neighbors to put out feeders now, so our hummers won't miss me!
 
Our house is out from town but it still sits in the Sonoran Desert. I think some of the other AZ birders that live nearer (or in) the mountains see many more than we do. But I have them (probably the same ones) all year round so that's good enough for us.

In about three weeks the Mexican bats will be migrating thru here and I'll have to take the feeders in each night and put them out before dawn each day or else they will get drained every night: http://fireflyforest.net/firefly/2006/10/11/tucsons-hummingbird-feeder-bats/ It's an annual pain-in-the-butt.
 
Actually, I know filling the feeders all the time is a pain but I'm jealous of your bats. I especially like the picture of the bat sat upright!

There are many bats around here each night but I guess they're mostly insect eaters though I understand there is the odd vampire bat...... perhaps if I put some red dye in the feeder ;)
 
Rob_D said:
There are many bats around here each night but I guess they're mostly insect eaters though I understand there is the odd vampire bat...... perhaps if I put some red dye in the feeder ;)
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:t:

We also have the insect-eating bats here all summer long -- they come out at dusk and compete with the Lesser Nighthawks for bugs.

So, what are you doing in Columbia? Work? How is it? I've never been in the tropics -- must be a great experience.
 
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