Hi all,
I've thought that humming birds were great since I was seven years old and saw one at my grandmothers columbine in northern Minnesota. I have never been in a good situation to have a feeder, but over the years have found some public places that placed feeders outside their windows for their patrons. Of course, here in MN, we only get the Ruby-throated Hummers.
One place, a resort/boat rental/restaurant/bar has six feeders and I have counted over 25 hummers there at one time. Another bar/restaurant has four feeders and is located on a bluff above a lake, if you get a window seat and look down the almost vertical drop (about 300 feet!) you might see a tiny speck that ZOOMS up to a dead stop - within six feet of you, feeds, and disappears just as quickly.
In the last couple of years I have turned my delight with birds into a hobby and have been surprised at the at the amount of hummers to be seen in local parks and woods. Learning the succesion of native/non-native flowering plants that they favor has been quite an education, much like butterflies.
Just this week I watched an immature RT Hummer visit EVERY bloom on a small clump of foxglove. Even better, I found three stands of touch-me-not (Jewelweed) each with it's own family of hummers. No positive sightings of males, they may be gone by now, but lots of females and imms.
I've been able to view the mating "display" twice in the spring and hope to see it again. Somehow, seeing hummers in the wild seems more satisfiying to me, I don't know exactly why. Maybe I enjoy the sound they make as the pass by my head, maybe it's the speed of their aerial battles...hard to say.
Oh well, beautiful creatures, whatever the reason.
Keep looking,
Steve-O
I've thought that humming birds were great since I was seven years old and saw one at my grandmothers columbine in northern Minnesota. I have never been in a good situation to have a feeder, but over the years have found some public places that placed feeders outside their windows for their patrons. Of course, here in MN, we only get the Ruby-throated Hummers.
One place, a resort/boat rental/restaurant/bar has six feeders and I have counted over 25 hummers there at one time. Another bar/restaurant has four feeders and is located on a bluff above a lake, if you get a window seat and look down the almost vertical drop (about 300 feet!) you might see a tiny speck that ZOOMS up to a dead stop - within six feet of you, feeds, and disappears just as quickly.
In the last couple of years I have turned my delight with birds into a hobby and have been surprised at the at the amount of hummers to be seen in local parks and woods. Learning the succesion of native/non-native flowering plants that they favor has been quite an education, much like butterflies.
Just this week I watched an immature RT Hummer visit EVERY bloom on a small clump of foxglove. Even better, I found three stands of touch-me-not (Jewelweed) each with it's own family of hummers. No positive sightings of males, they may be gone by now, but lots of females and imms.
I've been able to view the mating "display" twice in the spring and hope to see it again. Somehow, seeing hummers in the wild seems more satisfiying to me, I don't know exactly why. Maybe I enjoy the sound they make as the pass by my head, maybe it's the speed of their aerial battles...hard to say.
Oh well, beautiful creatures, whatever the reason.
Keep looking,
Steve-O
