Hummingbirds disappeared from a garden - SF BAy Area (1 Viewer)

Dear Forum members, I have a question about the hummingbirds. In Jan-Feb 2009 the hummingbirds were in my garden every day. I can't tell the exact species but one couple was greenish, one bird with red spot on the throat, and the other (probably female) less conspicuous. There were also rufous hummingbirds occasionally flying through the garden. I bought a feeder and put it up about a week ago but the birds are not using it - only once I saw rufous hummingbird flying close to it but not using. The whole past week was also quite rainy, but a few days ago the rain has stopped, while there are no more hummingbirds around! I cleaned the feeder, put it up again, but the hummingbirds are not there and not even around their favorite previous spots - vegetable garden and a little stream that goes close to the house, there is just no sign of them anywhere. I'm also a little worried because we used liquid ant baits about two weeks ago and some of the baits were placed outside near the house porch, but low on the ground and by house the wall and very far from the feeder (the baits were not intended for the feeder but for ants that were invading the house from the garden). I don't have a reason to think that these baits could affect hummingbirds in any way but I'm worried nevertheless. Is it common for the hummingbirds to disappear from the garden completely occasionally? Thank you for any advice you can give me on this! (The location is San Francisco Bay Area, California).

Hello there Laura and a warm welcome to you from those of us on staff here at BirdForum :t:

I would suspect migration is underway and they have moved on. Keep your feeders up though as you are likely to get another group coming in.

KCFoggin said:

Hello there Laura and a warm welcome to you from those of us on staff here at BirdForum :t:

I would suspect migration is underway and they have moved on. Keep your feeders up though as you are likely to get another group coming in.

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Thank you very much, KCFoggin, that's a relief. I'll wait till the new migrants come then!

hi laura,

i thought you might be interested in looking at this site:

http://www.hummingbirds.net/states.html

this is a great site for ruby-throated hummers in particular, but this page has hummers that have been reported in california, in order of the frequency of numbers. ruby-throated would be rare in your state but there are a couple that could be your hummers.

if you're interested, there's an excellent field guide for north american hummers by sheri williamson. here's a link to her website:

http://home.mindspring.com/~tzunun/

you're sure to have more hummers on the way soon! i hope to see them at my feeders in about a week. take care!

rubychalice

rubychalice, thank you so much! these are great resources! thanks!