I have been impatiently waiting,
but this morning, a lovely surprise happened - the first Hummingbird arrived, along with some more snow. The forecast for the rest of the week looks good, so I hope I can help this little trooper to make it.
Happy April Fool’s Day ;)
With this fantastic garden season,
nature is abundantly full of seeds, grains and fruit of all sorts. This and the fact that fall migration has begun makes for slim pickings when it comes to birdwatching at the moment, at least here. There is hardly any visitor apart from some MoDos, a bunch of Blue Jays and the occasional hummingbird. A good time for some maintenance and preps for the colder weather. Livecams will be down for a couple of days, and here are some recent hummers to hold you over. Happy September!
Happy National Hummingbird Day!
Activity here has picked up nicely this last week, and I am trying to get as many photos as I can. I found this one super adorable with the tiny landing gear coming out. I also have two of my Birdsy cams livestreaming hummer feeders, you can find them in my livestream section here or in my channel on birdsy.com.
I complained
about not seeing much hummingbird activity this season, but I am happy to report that things have changed a bit in this last week. The feeders are getting visited quite frequently and by several individuals. You can watch them in the livestream section or on birdsy.com. I am also trying to snap some photos too though, and here are two from yesterday.
Hummingbird activity
has continued the trend from previous years, being very slow. I do not know the reason, we have flowers growing, lots of habitat, water, no pesticides, you name it. I used to see them regularly for several years, and now I don’t. They have been absent all season, and now in August I get glimpses. This may be the only photo I get this year. I miss them. I used to see them from May until September. I know others have similar experiences, and I hope they somehow can recover, this is not normal. Good thing is, it looks like this one got plenty of flower juice, judging by the pollen on the beak.
Teen birds can be
very confusing, especially when you are just starting with birdwatching. They have the coolest patterns and colorations going on, and I have to say they are one of my favorites to see. It is fantastic that it is possible to see them even into fall. The calendar birds for August, September and October are teens. There’s a Rubythroated Hummingbird with just the first parts of the gorget appearing, a juvenile Cowbird morphing into adult plumage, and a teen Cardinal, still with lots of baby feathers and the characteristic brown beak.
And of course
I am trying to capture more Hummingbird photos while they are around. They are still the most magical little creatures to me and I am very happy to finally see a bit more of them. There seem to be at least three individuals. Two females and the male with the red feather. Below are the two females. The first one came right after a rain shower and has wet head feathers. I am also livestreaming two hummer feeders on BirdsyTV on my channel Ostdrossel3 there: https://birdsy.com/c/Ostdrossel3
Yesterday was a great day
because all of a sudden, I saw more Hummingbird activity than the whole season. There were at least two that were visiting all day. I think they are both young, a male and a female. The male is especially funny, he needed some time to fiigure out feeders. But he is also a super ham. And just turning into a man - with two tiny red specks on his throat, the beginnings of what gives the Rubythroated Hummingbird its name.
It's been a busy work week
and I am trying to catch up with photos, but there is also not really much happening. The backyard is full of goofy and curious bird babies, exploring the backyard and eating me out of house and garden (a big thank you to the generous Leslie for the WBU giftcard that allowed me to get a little extra ❤️). I have seen more butterflies this week, my first tomato hornworm (wow, these guys are massive!) that already seems to have been taken care of by a critter or bird, and a garter snake. Despite not really seeing hummingbird activity, I keep putting feeders out, and yesterday I got lucky. I hope things will pick up a bit now, apparently their babies are starting to fledge.
During these duller times,
I often think back on the year and more fun times, like June. June means that the Hummingbirds have arrived and the garden is coming along. I am still geeked out about Hummingbirds, they are so fascinating to me. So tiny, so fierce, so beautiful. And I love when I can lure them to the camera. The June bird of the Ostdrossel 2022 calendar is a Rubythroated Hummingbird, the only species we get here (apart from rare exceptions).
You can get a calendar here, they come in four sizes: https://www.createphotocalendars.com/Shop/ostdrossel
Fall is here!
And the weather was appropriate for the occasion. It has been storming and raining nonstop since last night, and I actually made a beef roast today because it felt so fallsy. Funnily enough, I also spotted two Hummingbirds. The end of September can be fun and interesting but apart from those few lucky encounters it has basically been MoDo season here for a bit now. They are fun and goofy and all but I feel like it is time to adjust feeders and food for a bit again to discourage them from flocking here because they keep all the other birds away.
Video: We are well into September
but I am still putting out Hummingbird nectar. Activity has slowed down a lot recently, and there are days with no Hummers. However, when I was in the middle of refilling yesterday, this guy showed up. It's short but I loved how he seemed angry that the feeder was empty 😄 Well, it will stay put for the time being.
I hope everyone has a nice Saturday ❤️
I hope you are not sick
of seeing Hummingbirds yet. Because here are some more from yesterday. I personally like this small feeder that we made ourselves because it centers the bird nicely in the frame, but as I mused before, it does not seem to be a favorite of the birds. However, yesterday, there was a very cooperative visitor, and I think maybe the regulars are snubbing me with the experimental feeders but the travelers are just hungry and go for anything. We had a big storm last night, which possibly helped migrants on their way south, so we will see how long the tiny winged jewels will still come here. I did see Orioles still yesterday too. If you want to follow bird migration along, check out https://birdcast.info, they have some really cool maps. Have a great Wednesday!
The weather
has turned from scorch and humidity to a pleasant warmth with a nice breeze. A good time to do some gardening and think about winter feeding options and the calendar for next year. There are Black Walnuts, Beech trees and oaks around, and I like to gather some foods “in the wild” to feed to the birds too. Here are the current regulars, minus House Finches and Sparrows, the occasional Oriole, and camera-shy Flickers and Cardinals. The MoDo came with a baby. Have a great Tuesday!
Video: Happy National Hummingbird Day!
How befitting on this date because I am seeing more Hummingbirds than all season. This little love came for a very relaxed sip today at around 11 am. I left it uncut because it is fun to see him go and look around, show off his tongue and also how cool his plumage looks with all those shades of green. I say he because I think this is a young male because I think I spot some kind of “beard shadow” but I am not sure. I keep hoping for one with a single red feather shooting in, we will see.
Video: Hummer fun!
Yellow jackets and Bald-faced hornets get sugar hungry towards the end of the season and can spoil the fun for birdwatchers as well as birds. At least for the Hummingbirds, I find these dish-style feeders a great solution to keep stinger insect devil at bay. These feeders do not leak, and they are quick and easy to clean. On top of that, the birds seem to like them too. There is not really much else happening, so I am enjoying the tiny winged jewels to the fullest. Come good into the week!
Hummingbird activity
has picked up a bit recently after a rather slow season. I can tell at least three individuals apart. A molting female, a heavily molting male and a perfectly looking female. I am playing around with different feeders, and I personally prefer the tiniest one with the hole in the middle because it centers the bird in the frame. However, not all of them like this one. I have seen it even that they snubbed it all day only to come back right away when I changed it for the other one. So funny.
This sweet visitor
finally was comfy enough to sit while drinking the nectar. I make my own hummingbird nectar, and recommend you to do it too. It is easy, cheap and healthier for the birds than the store-bought stuff with dyes and preservatives. Use 1 part granulated white cane sugar and 4 parts water. Mix until dissolved and chill. You can boil the water to help dissolving. Don't use chlorinated water. This mix will hold up for a couple of days in the fridge.
Now with the summer weather
having arrived here in Michigan, I am finally also seeing a bit more activity from some birds that I’ve been missing so far. There aren’t plenty but a couple of Hummingbirds seem to have found their way to my yard now. I noticed in videos that they often came to the feeder, checked and then took off without feeding, and I wondered about that. I thought about possible reasons and then removed the insect guards that I put over the ports from inside. And that seemed to have done the trick. The guards will go back on as the season progresses but for now, the hummers can get used to the feeder. There is a male too but here is the pretty female. (She has no gorget, the black/ red throat feathers.) Happy Friday!
Video: After about two weeks
of not seeing any hummingbirds, yesterday this shy female came around. This was lovely because it was also my birthday :) She was back this morning, looking a bit like she had spider webs on her beak, so hopefully there is nestbuilding underway somewhere and activity will pick up.
