Today I saw a hummingbird!

[Stephen Cherry]

In Maryland I have only seen a few in my whole life. And, of course, hummingbirds are one of the coolest of all birds. No time for photographic evidence though.

Does anyone else have any sightings?

[Jim Koepke]

We have been seeing humming birds for a while now. Sometimes they hover and watch while we water plants.

Saw a baby deer recently. The mama jumped into the brush and the little baby didn't know where to go. It looked to be less than a foot tall.

When we were going into town there was a duck walking its babies across the road.

The swallows returned in early May. I built a few more houses for them. It is kind of incredible sitting in the yard in the evening to have them flying low overhead.

jtk

[Mel Fulks]

Enjoy! Tip: not wearing a hat makes it more credible.

[Bruce Page]

Our trumpet vines are just starting to bloom, the humming birds will be out in force soon!

[Don Kondra]

I look forward to their return every spring but I've only had one pair return this year and they were a week late, sigh...

I've installed a feeder just outside of my patio door so I can enjoy them whenever I'm in the room :)

Haven't made time to shoot them this season, here's a couple from past summers.

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg202/donkondra/Hummertwo25June2011.jpg (http://s249.photobucket.com/user/donkondra/media/Hummertwo25June2011.jpg.html)

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg202/donkondra/Hummer22June2011.jpg (http://s249.photobucket.com/user/donkondra/media/Hummer22June2011.jpg.html)

Cheers, Don

[Gordon Eyre]

Nice photographs Don. We have had them in our yard for weeks now.

[Jim Rimmer]

I haven't seen any yet but have planted some plants that should attract them. For those of you in Texas, there is a native plant called scarlet Hyacinth that is very hardy, grows well in the direct Texas sun and has red flowers that hummingbirds love.

[Rick Potter]

Stephen,

If you want to see more of them, get a feeder, which is basically filled with sugar water. It will attract them, and they will put your location on their route. We have two feeders and have to fill them every other day in peak season.

Rick Potter

[David Weaver]

saw a couple here earlier this year, and tried to get my daughter to look quick (she's 3), but she didn't catch them. She'd probably not have figured out what they were, anyway, since they don't exactly move like "regular" birds.

Agree with rick - my parents put out a hummingbird feeder when I was a kid. We went from never seeing any to basically seeing them around the feeder most of the day, and consequently (my mother planted a lot of flowers) around all of the flowers a lot more, too. Usually, IIRC, put out red-tinted water to get their attention, but once they know where the feeder is, we stopped putting anything special other than sugar in the water.

[Jeff Monson]

Those are really cool photo's!! We saw 2 last weekend at the lake in Northern Minnesota, really fun to watch them. My wife puts out a feeder on our deck so they do stop by frequently.

[Paul Saffold]

We see 1 occasionally in spring and summer, but in the fall migration have had as many as 4 at the feeder at one time. In the fall we have 2 feeders set up as they can be territorial. Two feeders setup out of sight of each other helps. They are fun to watch.
Paul

[Larry Browning]

Wow! You have only seen a few in your lifetime? Around here there are thousands! We have some friends who have had feeders out for years and when we go over there in the summertime it is difficult to sit out on the patio because of all the hummers feeding. Anyone wearing red or any bright color will attract them. They will even land on your shoulder if you sit real still! Albeit for just a moment, but that is really cool to see. They are incredibly mean to each other, bumping the others out of the way to get to one feeder port, even though there are 4 others on the same feeder with no bird at them.

David's right, you only need the colored water to attract them initially. Once they learn where the feeder is they come back to the feeder with clear sugar water. Also, once you start feeding, you really should continue through to the end of the season. They will start depending on you for their food supply, and it can be hard on them if it gets cut off.

[Jay Jolliffe]

We're getting them at our house for about two weeks. Great pics by the way....So you all have seen them but have you held one. I've held two. One that ventured into my shop & couldn't find it's way out. He tired himself out & landed on a water pipe above my door. So I cupped him in my hands, held him out the door & opened my hands. He sat for about 15 seconds, looked at me then flew away. The same thing happened at a house I was working at. I left the door open & one flew in. Caught him the same way & let him go out side. He didn't hang around though. As soon as I opened my hands he was gone.....I thought that was pretty cool. Now my wife calls me the humming bird whisperer.

[Greg Peterson]

We have a pair of Anna's that live here year round. They are quite curious, relatively fearless, very territorial and full of character.

I can count on them re-introducing themselves each spring. Usually what happens is I am out in the yard, working in one place for a while and one of them will buzz up behind me and then slowly slide around to face me. It always startles me, but leaves me smiling. Just their way of letting me know they've got their eyes on me. It's their yard I guess, but they're good about sharing.

[Bob Rufener]

We have had hummers for a few weeks already. I had two females on the feeder today at the same time which is unusual. Usually, they go after each other and have a battle. Fun to watch. We have a feeder attached to our family room window and it works well. We just mix a cup of sugar with a quart of water for food and it works well. Enjoy!

[Stephen Cherry]

Ok, got my Hummingbird feeder in place, full of juice, and ready for the birds!

[Tom Fischer]

Great pics. we get hummingbirds in the garden, but never got pics.
My wife puts different flowers on the deck.
These guys (below) come by in the late summer.
I think they migrate to South America, or something amazing like that

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[Karl Andersson]

Stephen,
here in Maryland, we normally only see one species of hummingbird (the ruby-throated) - they are pretty cool to watch but if you're looking for more variety, keep your eyes out for hummingbird moths. I have several species that come by my gardens - the coolest is a big one that is colored to mimic the ruby-throated bird, and there are several smaller ones that look like bees. Sort of a "bug trivia" thing to display to friends and family, especially since many of them are mimics of other animals.
enjoy,
Karl

[Matt Marsh]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/Itasca_mn/Video/4b986e5e33c94fdb602ca1460459fd2f_zps4d1a0e46.mp4

I've been feeding about 10 cups of nectar a day the past few weeks. It will at least double that after the babies fledge in July.

[Matt Marsh]

Shooting hummingbirds is another hobby of mine.

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[Joe Kieve]

We've had them here since mid-April, males show up first, then females about a month later. I have two feeders and only feed them sugar water...1 cup of sugar to 4 cups of water. It's recommended that you boil the water first, but I have a kitchen faucet filter so haven't been doing that. So far, no problems that I can detect.

[Matt Marsh]

It's recommended that you boil the water first, but I have a kitchen faucet filter so haven't been doing that. So far, no problems that I can detect.

Boiling or not boiling has been a question by many, but for the most part has been proven to be a waste of time and energy. The microorganisms that cause fermentation do not come from the water; they are transported to the feeder on hummingbird's bills. If the water is safe for human consumption, it is safe for the hummers.

Here is a site for some good information on attracting hummingbirds, along with the recommended feeding techniques and recipe.

www.hummingbirds.net (http://www.hummingbirds.net)

The recipe: The site recommends using cane sugar, but my tests have shown that the hummers don't care is it's beet or cane sugar.

http://hummingbirds.net/feeders.html#recipe

[Mel Fulks]

We have jewel weed growing wild along a stream . I have not seen any feeder or other type flower that the humming birds like any better. Curiously they seem to just feed from it in the afternoon and go to something else earlier in the day.

[Don Kondra]

FYI - I use this site to track the returning birds :)

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/maps/humm_ruby_spring2013.html

Cheers, Don

[Ed Aumiller]

We plant four containers of red "Salvia" flowers on our deck.. bees, wasps, etc cannot get into them, but the hummers love them...
What is amazing to me is when they return in the spring, they go from planter to planter even though we have not planted the flowers yet...
Means we get the same ones back after there migration south and back...

If you use feeders, keep them clean...

[Bill Neely]

We have a pair of Anna's that live here year round. They are quite curious, relatively fearless, very territorial and full of character.

I can count on them re-introducing themselves each spring. Usually what happens is I am out in the yard, working in one place for a while and one of them will buzz up behind me and then slowly slide around to face me. It always startles me, but leaves me smiling. Just their way of letting me know they've got their eyes on me. It's their yard I guess, but they're good about sharing.

Your description is perfect! We've had Annas year round' for about 5 years, I've had them get right up in front of my face and hover. Right now there seems to be about 5 of them that visit the yard and they'll chase each other all over the place - buzz right by me or my wife like we were pylons at an air race. The Rufous hummingbirds showed up about a month ago, they're more shy.

[Andy Pedler]

David's right, you only need the colored water to attract them initially.

PLEASE DO NOT USE COLORED SUGAR WATER! I don't mean to be rude, but the food coloring is for people and not the birds. It has no effect on attracting hummers to your feeder and the food coloring used can be harmful to the birds.

If you want to start a new hummingbird feeding station, simply mix sugar and water. When you first place your feeder out, fill it with a mix of about 3.5-to-1 water-to-sugar ratio. Refill it every week or two, even if the birds aren't finishing it off. Once you have hummingbirds feeding regularly, you can back off the sweetness of your mix to 4-to-1.

You don't need to heat the water to dissolve the sugar but it sure goes a lot faster that way. I store the extra simple syrup in the fridge for over a month.

[Stephen Cherry]

PLEASE DO NOT USE COLORED SUGAR WATER! I don't mean to be rude, but the food coloring is for people and not the birds. It has no effect on attracting hummers to your feeder and the food coloring used can be harmful to the birds.

If you want to start a new hummingbird feeding station, simply mix sugar and water. When you first place your feeder out, fill it with a mix of about 3.5-to-1 water-to-sugar ratio. Refill it every week or two, even if the birds aren't finishing it off. Once you have hummingbirds feeding regularly, you can back off the sweetness of your mix to 4-to-1.

You don't need to heat the water to dissolve the sugar but it sure goes a lot faster that way. I store the extra simple syrup in the fridge for over a month.

Great advice, plus the simple syrup could be used for summertime drinks to be enjoyed while watching the birds.

[ray hampton]

I am watching a special about this bird, one fact is that they eat insects for protein [ about 1/4 of their diet ] one species in Brazil [sword bill ] of humming bird got a bill longer than its body , between 6 to 10 inches

the internet said the the bill are about 4 inches so my guess / way off

[Wade Lippman]

We had a wind spinner on the deck. The hummers were diving at it and landing on it all day long; so we put a feeder near it. Now they ignore both. Go figure.

[ray hampton]

on the nature show that I mention earlier , they rig a feeding station for the humming birds that revolve and the birds could match their speed to the feeder tubes and fly sideway

[Myk Rian]

We get a few/several every year. Sometimes we also get Hummingbird Moths (Clearwing).

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[Greg Peterson]

Was in the garden section at Lowes today and spied a hummer working over the hanging fuchsias.

[rogers kevin]

Oh.. Hummingbirds are adorable! We are fortunate that we are able to see them here in America. Other country’s people just heard about it.

[Jim Barrett]

We keep a feeder out all year as we have Anna's all year long and the Rufous around mid March...lots of fun...

[Sam Layton]

Hi Stephen,

We have 4 feeders in the back yard. We have to fill all 4 most every day. My wife buys sugar by the 25 pound bag. Here are a few photo's. We have the birds year round.

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[Stephen Cherry]

Hi Stephen,

We have 4 feeders in the back yard. We have to fill all 4 most every day. My wife buys sugar by the 25 pound bag. Here are a few photo's. We have the birds year round.

That's great! I put my feeder out, but I haven't seen the hummingbird again. :confused:

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

At our old property, we had vibrant red Monarda "Jacob Kline" (Bee Balm) growing in front of the house. As the years went by, the plant had more babies and we encouraged the expansion. The Monarda would get about 5' tall and bloom most of the summer. We would have up to a dozen hummingbirds buzzing about all afternoon and evening and we could sit and watch the "hummingbird wars" as they zipped about all the blooms. We dug up some of the Monarda so that we can plant it in our future home and hope the hummingbirds will soon come and visit us there.

[Stephen Cherry]

Today a hummingbird was at the feeder! Woo hoo!

[Greg Peterson]

Once they find food, they'll not be far away.

[Stephen Cherry]

The hummingbirds are feeding every few minutes now, here is a picture:
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