I live in Santa Fe NM and the most common hummingbird species are black-chinned, broadtail and rufous. Once the rufous show up, the show changes as they are aggressive and dominant. I learned from this video. Thanks!
@@MarksBackyardBirds Rufous are bullies indeed. Once they take up residence at the feeders, they are top dog until they leave in the late summer/early fall. They are, however, fun to watch as they put on displays-of-flight that are astounding.
Good informational video. Here in western washington the two i see most are Anna's a nd rufous. Rufous is a mean aggressive little bird , feel like taking my hat off and smacking them when they get in my face. I dont feed humming birds regularly. They come to my yard to get water and to bath and check out the flowers. I maybe put out a feeder a couple times a year if i see a larger than normal number of them showing up. But when that feeder is dry, i dont refill. It seems to me that we have a lot more humming birds, both Anna's and rufous over wintering here than years ago. I think its because of all the feeders. I dont want to feel responsible for keeping feeders for them all winter. Dealing with frozen feeders is not something i want to do.
I'm not far from you 70 miles east of your store front. My hummers were here last summer time. This year however, visits to my feeders have dropped significantly! Do you think all the springtime storms have affected our summer population numbers? Very concerned. Will keep feeding. Have cut syrup down to 1/4 cup in each feeder. I have 8. Just changed all syrup this morning. Dumping almost 100 % of remaining syrup left in feeders down the drain.
We do have a lot of reports of hummingbird numbers being down. We also have reports from folk who say they have more than ever. We definitely need to monitor the trend. There are so many dangers the face during migration and on their wintering grounds. It is so hard to know for sure. Thank you for the report on your birds.
Two years ago I say my first hummer of the season on march 29th. It’s June now and this year I haven’t seen the first one. I’m in north Alabama, just wonder your thoughts on why. No one in my neighborhood have saw any either. I was wondering if the cicadas had any thing to do with their absence. Thanks
It is so hard to know. Some have a lot, while others are like you and Their numbers are way down. They face so many perils in migration and on their wintering ground. One subscriber says he read something about banana farmers using a new pesticide. We have to monitor the numbers year to year before we panic. I don’t think cicadas would compete with or harm hummers.
@MarksBackyardBirds Mark I may not have hummingbirds this year, but I have orioles, too many to count. It will be getting dark out and they're still at my feeders getting jelly. I have to put multiple feeders out because they're fighting over it. Last year I saw 3, this year it's crazy!
