We don't get a big variety of birds around our house. My husband is becoming the hummingbird whisperer. I used to put out one feeder and got very few birds. He put out 5 feeders and we are now seeing quite a few more. We had a humming bird get trapped on our back porch. He was in such a panic we had to throw a net over him. We released him but by then it was dark and he kept flying up to the window exhausted. My husband caught him with his hands the second time. We had a small mesh soft sided dog carrier. We put him in it and hung it by one of the feeders with it partially opened so he could fly away when he recovered. He was gone in the morning. Also we usually have a few pesky blue jays and The usual sparrows and doves. The blue jay
Hummingbirds are cool! We have two feeders, but one hummingbird seems to think it owns them. It will run the others off.
This thread caught my eye as I'm crazy about birds - especially hummers. Great pics. Here are a couple of my favourites. The hummingbird was from last summer and took forever to get him to do that. I think the same one came back this year as he came right to me. My new visitor this year was the Oriole - had never seen one before when he showed up in the yard so I ran out and bought him his own feeder LOL. My husband thinks I'm nuts.
My husband adores hummingbirds - we have 3 feeders and have to refill multiple times during the day (if we're home). We carefully track the hummingbird migration map so we know when to put the feeders out. A couple years ago we were late, and noticed a bird stopped at our living room window staring at us accusingly because there was no feeder! Last year was also the first time (after 15 years) that bats FINALLY moved in to my bat house. We'd moved it all over the property hoping to entice them to move in (we live in the country, have a pond so a good source of fresh water, trees, bugs etc) But the year before last, one neighbor tore down an old chicken barn - we think many had lived there and some found our house when they were forcibly evicted.
Yes, the males are VERY territorial. We've had some position themselves on the corner of our house (on the blueberry bushes) so it can monitor multiple feeders at the same time! But the photo above with the multiples - it's the babies & females - they will share Sometimes when we sit on our patio, we'll be divebombed by territorial males chasing others away. We love listening to them chatter. I don't love the divebombing though.
We keep a feeder in our backyard and I swear when it is empty the birds line up in mass on the wires in the front of the house and stare at us when we sit on the porch. It is sometimes creepy cause there are so many birds on the wire.
Is that what that hummingbird that keeps showing up at my front window is trying to tell me? I haven't put out any feeders this year. Been too busy to get around to it, unfortunately. One buzzed me in the garden when we were ripping out blackberries. I thought he was saying "Hey! I was drinking that!" I love the photos in this thread. I've never been able to get a good picture of one. They move fast!
It is funny to watch them fight over the feeders. They spend more time chasing each other around. We also get a lot of red/orange breasted robins.
A couple of weeks ago we had a country visitor picking at the remains of a squirrel-- we usually don't see buzzards in town.
This guy and his mate have been hanging around for a month or so. Usually we only get fleeting glimpses in the early summer. Poor quality photo(thru window screen) doesn't capture his bright coloring well....
We do see LOTS of other wildlife, but it's the hummingbirds we're really obsessed with. Or the coyotes (to get rid of) and we've had bobcat as well (we have trail cams and they have approached- guess all cats are curious We had a bear a few years back - when we were in Vegas, I think! FIL was out at our house checking on things and saw prints in the snow behind our pond....
Great pictures. Love the hummers but I don't get them often. Living way out in the boonies - I have starlings, cardinals, lots of hawks and a couple of eagles. Nice to sit on the porch and watch them.
I used to see a roadrunner every morning when I got off work at the Hospital -- I haven't seen him lately. I see deer all the time even in town. We have had one in our backyard before. They usually don't walk into the middle of town. Just down the road about 1/4 or 1/2 mile there is a large cemetery. Every morning and evening people are feeding the deer. Skunks, possums, and porcupines in town also.