Anyone else have an unusually large number of hummingbirds this year?

[NoTrespassing]

I got the Merlin Bird ID app, great app.

Yep, one of my favorite Saturday and Sunday activities when I wake up at about 5am. I go sit on the covered porch with a cup of coffee and ID birds by their calls. Then I use a few of the many calls for those birds to call them in closer where I can actually see them.

 

[John0829]

I got the Merlin Bird ID app, great appU

Use the app all the time because SWMBO is always asking about some bird song she is hearing.

 

[goeduck]

I got the Merlin Bird ID app, great app.

What will they think of next?

 

[sixdogs]

We noticed a downturn in birds at the feeders the past week but this morning my wife saw HB's eating bugs off the Hostas and getting nectar from its flowers. One also briefly stopped at the window feeder. I think we forget that most of their diet is bugs.

 

[goeduck]

We noticed a downturn in birds at the feeders the past week but this morning my wife saw HB's eating bugs off the Hostas and getting nectar from its flowers. One also briefly stopped at the window feeder. I think we forget that most of their diet is bugs.

I often see parts of bugs in the feeder trays when I clean them out. I figure it is off of their bills (technically they have bills, not beaks).

 

[NoTrespassing]

I often see parts of bugs in the feeder trays when I clean them out. I figure it is off of their bills (technically they have bills, not beaks).
View attachment 3775300 View attachment 3775301

Tooth-billed hummingbird - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Is that a toothedbiled hummingbird?

 

[sixdogs]

We had a slow opening to this HB season but we moved a few feeders around, which may or may not be responsible and have been getting swarmed with birds. We probably had 50 visits that we saw at the kitchen window feeder yesterday and wife says the other feeders out front are using even more food. Also, I saw a very young HB approach a feeder. Very cute.

I'm not sure what's going on. Did moving the feeders help? Is there an absence of bugs to eat? Little birds on their own?

 

[Oaktree]

I'm not sure what's going on. Did moving the feeders help? Is there an absence of bugs to eat? Little birds on their own?

We've also seen an increase in them this year, we did move the feeder. We'll see 4 or 5 of them buzzing around it at times, NEVER saw that many at one time before. This is also the first year I've had to refill the feeders because they were empty...usually it gets changed because it's been sitting for several weeks.
I see that mosquitoes are part of their diet, and they haven't been as plentiful this year as they have in the past. May be part of it.

 

[ultrarunner]

All I can think is the Hummingbirds are mimicking California’s General out migration…

I did see a lone one yesterday…

 

[CalG]

I fill our small sugar water feeder every day. It's often that there are thee pairs "fighting" over access to the feeder while we are sitting out on the deck for supper.
I'm not sure if this is more or less than "normal".
Is there any place in North America that DOESN'T have hummers in summer?
I do not recall seeing them as a kid in the Dakotas, but I was young then ;-)