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OT - Hummingbird feeder


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Anyone use a hummingbird feeder? Do you mix it on your own? I think I used 1 cup sugar / 4 cups water. Got 2 birds coming in so far. I read that the mix goes sour after three days? Is that right? If so, I'll mix just half as much until I get more hummers.

 

A friend has hummingbird heaven. I have never seen anything like it. He lives near a lake, I don't know if that has anything to do with it. But it's beyond belief. For several years now. This year, they figure they have up to 100 at the same time! They have six feeders I think.

 

Other people say they have a lot of hummingbirds and he keeps his mouth shut unless they press him. Like "Oh, okay, you have a dozen or so hummers, I got 100!" It's been a couple of years but I did see several dozen at once. That many wings buzzing and them chirping and chasing each other, it's quite a racket. They are very jealous of one another. Always some badasses in the bunch.

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We tried a hummingbird feeder. My wife bought one at one of those home/garden type stores. The solution just dripped out of the spout until it was dry. We got tired of that. There must be a better feeder out there. When our new house is done I'm going to look into that.

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My feeder is el cheapo model but works fine. It has six feeder holes, I think. I just saw three hummers out there and it has been four days since mixing, I think. So, apparently the mix is not sour.

 

A bird only gets a few sips before another one comes and chases him off. I don't know why they can't just sip together. No lie, they expend a tremendous amount of energy chasing each other off.

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i once held a hummingbird. it had gotten caught in a spiders web [the spider was HUGE] so i picked it out of the web with a long stick and brought it over and "untangled" the web from the hummingbird. it spread it wings open in my hand, sat there for a minute and then flew off.

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so i picked it out of the web with a long stick and brought it over and "untangled" the web from the hummingbird. it spread it wings open in my hand, sat there for a minute and then flew off.

 

 

Wow, that's quite a story. Even though the spider was huge, I guess it wasn't huge enough to eat a hummer. Else, he would have already pounced on him.

 

One time I found a dead hummer. A few minutes after admiring him, he flew off.

 

I since learned that in the fall, when it gets colder, at night, they go into a "stupor," a semi-hibernative state. I guess it conserves energy. They burn tremendous amounts of energy.

 

I also learned that they eat mostly bugs. Which surprised me. They suck nectar just for energy. The bugs give them protein and fat.

 

Also, they build nests of from spider webs and lichens! Pretty cool bird!

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well, i dont know... i saw it fly into the web so if the spider was coming for it i kept it at bay... but imagine a web strong enough to stop a hummingbird dead in flight. i think the spider had a good 6" diameter to it [legs and all].

 

 

im married with kids, so i know a dead hummer intimately ;)

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.

 

 

WOW! I didn't know such a spider existed. I mean, one that spins a web. Where was this? What country? Any idea what kind of spider? I'd like to read up about that guy.

 

Only spider I can think of that gets a few inches big in the USA that spins a web is one of the garden (orb) spiders. But 6 inches, sheesh!

 

EDIT: Like this one?

 

 

That's something else that the web you saw stopped a hummingbird.

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There are some wolf spiders that get that big. I have plenty of both wolf spiders and hummers but never seen a hummer fly into a spider web! Wow.

 

You got the nectar "recipe" right so far as I've always used. Basically you just have to watch it and change the nectar if it gets cloudy. The time it takes to go bad varies with the weather, it can last a week or sometimes it can go bad in a day or two.

 

Another thing you can do to attract hummers is plant any flowering plants that have red flowers (orange or pink will do too). They love coral honeysuckle, coral bells, bee balm, butterfly bushes, etc. Anything red, they like.

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The more I think about it, the more amazed I am that a spider web would stop a hummingbird. Think about the mass of a fly versus the mass of a hummingbird. Wow, that had to be a badass web.

 

I previously stated that I read that hummingbirds build their nests of spider web and lichens. I don't suppose the hummer was just hovering trying to gather web was he? I mean, if he had inertia going for him and the web stopped him, that makes it more amazing.

 

Speaking of gathering web, I wonder how a hummingbird does that! Where does he put it!

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so i picked it out of the web with a long stick and brought it over and "untangled" the web from the hummingbird. it spread it wings open in my hand, sat there for a minute and then flew off.

 

 

My neighbor did that a couple of weeks ago. Hummer flew into the open door on her screened porch, and got confused and overheated trying to get out. It sat in her hand for about five minutes, feeding from the sugar before it finally zoomed off. Astounding to see one up close for that long.

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WOW! I didn't know such a spider existed. I mean, one that spins a web. Where was this? What country? Any idea what kind of spider? I'd like to read up about that guy.


Only spider I can think of that gets a few inches big in the USA that spins a web is one of the garden (orb) spiders. But 6 inches, sheesh!


EDIT: Like this one?



That's something else that the web you saw stopped a hummingbird.

 

 

no, i have those orb weavers in my yard all over the place right now, and unforunately a good bit of black widows about that i have been on a killing spree with. those orb weavers are kinda big but nothing like this one... and the web was THICK stranded stuff. honestly i never saw a spider like it before or since. we had been watching it for a few days with its web strung between two trees that the HB finally flew into. the web was so strong, it stopped it, but i think it got its wings caught up in the web as it did destroy the web in the process... but there was enough to hold it there and keep it there.

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Been feeding them here in Wisconsin for years. We never really had any problem with the sugar water going bad until this year. I'm not sure if the feeder got contaminated or what.

 

Also, it seemed like we had a TON of those little sugar ants climbing the tree, going out on the branch and climbing down a thin wire holding the feeder.

 

Again, for the first time, this year we had these big black nasty ground hornets hanging on the feeder. They were as mean as ummmm hornets. :)

They would actually chase the Hummers away. I hit 'em from a distance with the hose a few times but it never did any good.

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Egad, that's a lot of sugar water. I keep a feeder here in the colestin valley, too. We get a few hummers. The nests are really cool, have you seen one? They look like a knot on a branch, and the eggs are, well, cute. I have read that fermentation of the sugar solution causes liver enlargement (in a human it would be called "hematomegaly"). I try to change the nectar once a week -- and I suspect that fermentation can happen before cloudiness sets in. I love those little guys.

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Up here in VT I did not realise we had as many of the little guys as we do until we recieved a feeder as a gift and half-jokingly put it up... I am amazed I have not seen them as often! They also seem to tolerate people more closely than I would have thought.

 

harrierzz3yr1.gif

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I LOve all birds ... they're sooooooooooooo cool.

I had a pet Cockatiel for 27 years .. now I just have 100 or so that I feed outside. They live here and are all pretty used to me .. it's funny, different birds in the front yard than in the back yard. I've got tons of flowers in my yard, so there's plenty of Hummers, but I have a feeder for them too. A client of mine gave me two Cockatoo's, but they were a bit too much for my wife to handle. I think Craig is way into birds too isn't he??? I'd like to find out about that.

 

Russ

Nashville

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I rescued one a few years ago ... she had run into a window and broken a wing. I nursed her back to health with an eye-dropper full of sugar water, but knew i had to find some other food. The bird feeder store told me i had to give her up, so i took her to a registered wildlife rehab person. She was really cool, sat on my finger and was never afraid. The rehab lady said she would likely not fly again, but might reproduce. I feed them now and love to watch them. My nectar is stronger than you mentioned, though. I put one cup sugar into a 2 cup pyrex, then fill it with water up to the 2-cup line, microwave to get it to disolve and store in the fridge. When temps are over 90, i change it about every 4 days and clean them by soaking the parts in a bleach solution. That keeps them free from bacteria longer. O yea, I also take a dryer sheet and wrap the string with that ... ants don't like bounce!

Russ, check out my band ! www.nextofkin.info ... one of Nashville's oldest continually running garage bands.

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I have seriously enjoyed this year's class. So far, they have not left. There is one badass. A female. In fact, I rarely see a male. Due to this badass, they spend (she does) all their time chasing each other.

 

Yesterday, I saw what appeared to be a definite "dance." They (two of them) were lock-step, rising and falling again and again... way up high. I thought it was a mating dance but I cannot confirm that a male was in the mix. It was incredible. They did it for about a minute. Which is a long time.

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This was our first summer in our new house, having moved from suburbia out to the country. We had a pair of hummingbirds who frequented our feeder and flowerboxes all summer. At least one of them, usually the male, would be by every 10 minutes to feed. We (and they, apparently) really liked this feeder - no bugs, no drips, and no goofy plastic flowers.

 

5.jpg

 

 

 

The hummingbirds have left for the summer. This week we've had a treefrog living on the deck. Tree frogs in NJ? Yep!

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Up here in VT I did not realise we had as many of the little guys as we do until we recieved a feeder as a gift and half-jokingly put it up... I am amazed I have not seen them as often! They also seem to tolerate people more closely than I would have thought.


harrierzz3yr1.gif

I like the hbird video. :thu:

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Wow, I happened upon this thread from a Google search. Earlier tonight, just before sundown I found a ruby-throated hummer in my backyard entangled in a small spider web, hanging upside down. (spider was way small, no threat to hummer)

 

No telling how long she'd been in that position but probably no longer than 15-20 mins as I look out frequently to check my feeders. Quickly grabbed a ladder and pulled her out .... she was in shock and it took her a couple of minutes to come to. Grabbed a cardboard box and put some twigs in it so she could perch. Poured some nectar in a small glass and stuck her beak in it and she swigged a few gulps and after pulling the sticky web off her feathers, I gave her a mist bath to help her get cleaned up which she really enjoyed because she was preening the whole time. After 30 mins or so her strength returned but it was dark and too late to release her.

 

I'm happy to report she's sleeping happily in her box and at sunlight tommorrow I'm going to release her.

 

I'm mesmerized by hummingbirds and I'm glad that I could save this particular one's life. :thu:

 

If I get a chance I'll take a couple pics in the am before I let her go.

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For most areas of North America it is time to put that feeder away and encourage the hummingbirds to fly south. If you keep feeding them and they stay around for easy food then they can get in trouble when migrating.

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