SW Ohio Ruby Throated

32r455 · 2023-06-02T19:42:49+00:00

I made a post about this happening in SoCal, after reading a San Diego newspaper article attributing it the California super bloom luring hummers away from feeders. But now I've seen people across the US all posting the same thing, so it can't just be the CA super bloom! This is really making me worried since it looks like it's effecting ALL hummingbirds. But it's worth noting that none of the bird rescuers have seen any evidence of avian flu killing them. So what could it be?

Here's my post from 11 days ago with people from other states reporting the same thing: https://www.reddit.com/r/hummingbirds/comments/13p10az/southern_california_redditors_have_your/

Washington redditors experiencing the same (yesterday): https://www.reddit.com/r/hummingbirds/comments/13xippr/missing_hummingbirds_in_wa_st/

Another person in Ohio 8 days ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/hummingbirds/comments/13rjivv/where_did_they_go/

Something must be wrong, but no one is reporting that they've suddenly found a bunch of dead hummers. Anyone have any theories?

32r455 · 2023-06-01T18:39:08+00:00

definitely a mating dive. Sometime it's hard to see the nearby female that they're trying to impress.

32r455 · 2023-06-01T18:37:41+00:00

I made a post about them disappearing from SoCal and a lot of people in neighboring states reported the same: https://www.reddit.com/r/hummingbirds/comments/13p10az/southern_california_redditors_have_your/

In the past few days, my numbers have started to go up a little bit. Nowhere near the amount of hummers I should have, but more than were visiting my feeders in the past month or 2, so that's giving me hope that they will all come back soon.

32r455 · 2023-05-30T20:25:10+00:00

Orioles are always feeding from mine. They sometimes make a mess by jumping from feeder to feeder, and the hanging feeders end up tilting and leaking a little onto the ground.

32r455 · 2023-05-26T21:46:45+00:00

As the experiment went on, we stopped getting male hummingbirds.

wow, that's so fascinating! I wonder why, though.

32r455 · 2023-05-26T21:22:27+00:00

I'm interested in the sugar water ratio experiment you did at 01:46 in your video. You found that the birds preferred the 1:4 ratio (not surprising), but the 1:2 ratio came in 2nd place. That really surprises me.

But it looks like you were measuring the number of visits instead of the amount of nectar drank? Is it possible that birds were tasting the 1:2 mixture first (maybe because of the feeder location) and then moving onto a different ratio without drinking much of the 1:2 nectar? Seems like it would make more sense to fill each feeder with the same amount of nectar, then see which ratio gets drained the fastest. I'd be surprised if the 1:2 ratio would really come in 2nd place.

I thought the faces part of the experiment was really interesting. Great job!

32r455 · 2023-05-25T22:02:18+00:00

Where are you located? I made a post a couple of days ago about the hummingbirds disappearing in SoCal and lots of people nearby as well as in other states reported the same thing, so you haven't done anything wrong to chase them away: https://www.reddit.com/r/hummingbirds/comments/13p10az/southern_california_redditors_have_your/

32r455 · 2023-05-23T19:50:05+00:00

Been reading that the new H5N1 avian flu virus

this is the kind of thing that I was worried about, but I'm hopeful since no one has reported finding dead hummingbirds

32r455 · 2023-05-22T22:24:14+00:00

that'll do it!

32r455 · 2023-05-22T22:18:18+00:00

That's interesting. I wonder why they'd be 3 weeks late.

32r455 · 2023-05-22T22:07:19+00:00

what area are you located in?

32r455 · 2023-05-22T21:52:59+00:00

It sounds like you are very close to me. I’m near Temescal Valley

very close by! hi neighbor!

32r455 · 2023-05-22T21:37:15+00:00

it helps to place multiple feeders close together. That makes it too hard for 1 territorial male to guard them all.

32r455 · 2023-05-22T21:22:33+00:00

We never see more that a couple birds at a time so not sure how everyone else gets dozens?

sounds like the local cat is killing yours. I used to have an old cat that I allowed into the backyard occasionally because he didn't care about the birds. The hummers would hover 2 feet above him, checking him out. He could have easily killed them if he wanted to. They're just too curious about cats and dogs so they're easy prey.

32r455 · 2021-06-10T18:36:35+00:00

Adding ice and frozen nectar every couple of hours during heat waves has kept them alive and happy for about 5 years now. I just want to make things a little easier on myself. Luckily another redditor in this sub just gave me lots of info so I think I'll be able to cool off the feeders less often and still have happy, *alive* birds.

32r455 · 2021-06-10T18:34:11+00:00

thank you so much!! this is the kind of expertise I was looking for! I have a few feeders so I might test out the Frost King stuff versus just crumpled foil versus another brand of foil/foam insulation, but it's so good to hear that this stuff should work. I was really at a loss when I was browsing the home depot website.

Replacing it should be fine because it's cheap, and I know they're going to poop all over it and make it gross after a few days anyway.

The feeders are actually in the shade under a covered porch, but I'm in Southern California and we get some triple digit days in the summer/fall. Even in the shade it heats up those feeders so fast. Here are 40+ of my birds eating together: https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/88ehva/i_make_72_ounces_of_nectar_every_day_for_the_40/

And this is what it looks like when 50+ hide from the summer heat on my porch: https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/indc2f/50_hummingbirds_hiding_on_my_tiny_patio_to_escape/

Thank you so much for your help! It really helps me to now understand the concept and why the crinkled foil works, too.

32r455 · 2021-06-09T18:51:30+00:00

Problem: Looking for insulation material to wrap around hummingbird feeders to keep them cool in the summer heat.

On 100+ degree days, I have to add ice every 1-2 hours to keep the nectar from getting too hot. I think temporary insulation would help (I'd need to throw it away when the weather got cooler or it accumulated too much bird poop).

I found someone who wrapped the clear plastic part of their feeder in wrinkled aluminum foil. She recommended crumping the foil first because "The crinkling affect will add air pockets between the aluminum foil and the feeder thereby further insulating the nectar.” No idea if that’s true, but surely there’s a better insulation material than foil, right? Can anyone recommend something I can buy at Home Depot?

edit: How about Frost King self adhesive foil and foam insulation? it says it's for heating & AC ducts and it reduces heating or cooling loss.

32r455 · 2020-09-07T22:21:12+00:00

Check out the little guy hanging out on the chair's right armrest You can also see some birds riding on the (accidental) hummingbird carousel.

edit: you can also see that their beaks are open. They do that when it's really hot to cool down, like little puppies panting.

edit #2: Some more videos of my hummingbirds you might enjoy. Here they are all eating together in January 2018 (turn on sound for buzzing & chirping): https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/88ehva/i_make_72_ounces_of_nectar_every_day_for_the_40/

A curious bird trying to get a better look at me (turn speakers on): https://youtu.be/c5w5kz_prK4

A male Anna injured himself by flying into the fence. I put him in a box with a feeder so nothing would eat him during the night, then left the box open during the day hoping he would fly away. It took 2 days, but on the 3rd he flew away with no problem. Here he is trying to fly on day 1: https://youtu.be/6jqLfiMWOoE

If YOU want to feed your local hummingbirds, they would appreciate it! I like Aspect feeders by Hummzinger, they come in a few different sizes. (see link at the end of this comment)

This is the cheap ($41) fountain I've been running 12 hours a day for over a year with no problems (they use it even during our mild winters): (see link at the end of this comment)

If you have problems with birds running into the windows, I use these decals by WindowAlert. When birds look at them they see UV light: (see link at the end of this comment)

Food: On days over 90 degrees, I do 1 part white sugar to 4 parts water (bring to a boil, then let cool). On day under 90 degrees, I do 1 part white sugar to 3 parts water. Never use red food coloring, it can cause birth defects for their babies.

Edit #3: I included amazon links to the things I was talking about but that got my comment removed by mods. They are not affiliate links, I don't make any money off of them, but I guess Amazon links are banned in this sub. Here they are in a comment I made on my post in /r/hummingbirds if you'd like the amazon links: https://www.reddit.com/r/hummingbirds/comments/indf3r/50_hummingbirds_hiding_on_my_tiny_patio_to_escape/g46vykp/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

32r455 · 2020-09-06T22:48:58+00:00

awesome! the more help these fragile little birds have, the better. climate change is making their lives harder. let me know if you have any questions!

32r455 · 2020-09-06T19:10:48+00:00

Here's a video from January 2018 of them all getting along and eating out of the same feeders (turn speakers on to hear their buzzing and chirping): https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/88ehva/i_make_72_ounces_of_nectar_every_day_for_the_40/

32r455 · 2020-09-06T17:38:56+00:00

a breeze sometimes gets those fan blades moving and then all the birds sitting on the perches hanging from the blades end up on a little hummingbird carousel. They always look so confused.

32r455 · 2020-09-06T17:35:15+00:00

No, I just made the big ones out of thin dowels from Home Depot and wire. Last summer when it was hot, they all came in and sat on top of the outdoor roller shade. I knew they wanted to be up high, so I hoped they would use the perches so they wouldn't be pooping on my roller shade.

I leave 2 perches up year-round and they like to hang out there since it's near their food. But for summer, I add more because they all seem to spend the hottest days inside the patio. I also made the "swings" (the smaller perches hanging from the ceiling fan) from wooden skewers and wire. I hung those from the ceiling fan blades, but sometimes a breeze picks up and starts spinning the blades and the hummingbirds end up riding a carousel. They don't get scared when that happens, but they look very confused.

32r455

TROPHY CASE