Hummingbird feeding activity / weather event (1 Viewer)

Hello, just getting started with regular use of hummingbird feeders and curious as to their behavior. I'm located in Minnesota and our summer weather has been pretty consistent with temps ranging in the 80-85 F range each day. Several days ago we had a soaking rain that lasted for a good part of the day. I noticed a severe uptick in feeding activity where the hummers would spend several minutes at a time using the feeder which continued until dark. There was a corresponding 20 degree temp drop following the rain event. Is this behavior quite normal to "binge" feed following a rainfall, or the combination of dropping temps and the rain ramped up their foraging to maintain their metabolic rate? Just curious if this is a common pattern related to weather.

Thanks

I, personally, feel that the birds have instincts or some kind of body alert that lets them know of a drop in temperature coming. I don't know whether they sense barometer changes or what but I have noticed this for years and just my thoughts.

I generally sit on my porch every night and the hummers seem to feed very heavy after dusk. I have seen them feed at 9:00 PM but never after 9:00 PM. I guess that is their bedtime and they feed heavy to make it thru the night.

The hummers stay here all year round (about a dozen of them). I've seen them feeding at darkest dusk, when I can barely see them, and at darkest dawn. I've often wondered if they feed at night . . . probably not.

It is rare here in winter but sometimes we have a hard freeze (lows in the upper teens, degrees F) and I have to bring their feed bowls in and put them out the next morning. I bring them in after dark and before the first light of dawn, because they are there that early, even in winter.