Most have been gone for a week or so but at least one has been hanging around. Did not see it today or yesterday so may be gone finally. We'll still leave the drink out for them just in case another one happens to fly past and stops to get one for the road. Fall is finally here!
Yup, fall has arrived. I cleaned up our feeders and put them in winter hibernation earlier this week.............Fly safe Lil' Fellas
Same here. We had a crazy amount at the feeder until the other day. Now, I've yet to see any. They are one of my favorite animals. I always like to go to Central America to visit them in winter. I find it crazy that those little guys can make it to Mexico or further, from all the way up here in the northern states.
Yep, they are here. Not just a handful or two. The most I've been able to count at one time was 37 throughout the summer. Those numbers have increased exponentially over the last couple of weeks. The one Well Seasoned mentioned came by while I was stuffing a yellow jacket in the "Bottle of Death". He paused to watch and maybe thank me for ridding the feeder of those pesky yellow jackets this time around at maybe a yard away. He was a young male with just a start if his beard. A 5 O'clock shadow! He was captured on one of my security cameras. Actually I see them all the time on camera, but often they don't trigger the motion sensor unless they are within a few feet of the camera. I did post the picture of the young male in my thread here: Homemade Bug Juice Anyone? | Firewood Hoarders Club But here it is again including the caption. "Pardon my mess, but I am in the throws of construction among other things, but here is a shot from one of my cameras. I just took a picture with my regular camera while I had that moment the hummer stopped by frozen on the screen. (pictures or it didn't happen right?) I circled him in red." (The security camera covers a lot more area than shown)
They left here too about a week ago, but I had about 30 turkeys walk by yesterday to take their place!
We love having "our hummies" around, but they disappeared late August/early September I believe. Can't believe how much lift/wind they make for such a small creature. Had an impatient fellow about a foot away from my wrist when I was changing the feeder out, and it was pretty neat. Sounded like BBBBVVVVVVVVVV, and felt like a hairdryer. Almost like this.
Just checked with my wife and the last time she saw one was on the 23rd, which is about normal here. Most of them had left a week or so earlier.
The regular males that were here all summer left September 8th. The regular females that were here for the summer left by September 21st. All the rest are using my place as a stopover for a few days on their way to their winter homes. Does that mean they're actually SnowBirds? The numbers are starting to drop off some but I still have a decent number frequenting the feeders. Somewhere between 40 and 50 as a rough guestimate, so it won't be long before their have left completely. Last year I had one stay almost to the end of October.
Still have them here in the very north of NJ, or at least one that I saw this evening. I do expect them to be gone rather soon.
I thought they had left several days ago and was about to take the feeders down but I just saw one. So a load of fresh sugar water went in to help the last straggler out on her way south. The Cornell bird website does says that it is hours of daylight that triggers their instinct to migrate, not food availability (or lack thereof), and to leave the feeders up for a week after you stop seeing them just in case there is a late one coming through. Looks like that is good information.
