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

[John0829]

Every year we have literally two dozen plus on the feeders but this year have only seen two so far and they seem skittish. Many of those that regularly stay around will get on or be right in your face while trying to hang the feeders up. And for the last two years we had one male that would come stare at the kitchen window when "his" feeder ran out. Fun to watch.

 

[ponytug]

Our local birds turned up about about a week ago. I was treated to a low level fly by for some reason (eye level). The males are doing mating sorties between the house and the barn. Always fun to watch.

I haven't seen any rufous come through on their way up north, yet.

 

[sixdogs]

No interest in feeders right now. Hard to tell but it looks like bugs are on the menu.

 

[JasperFrank]

I think our ice storm in Feb killed all of them off that didn't migrate South. Seen only one humming bird so far this spring. I'm more concerned about the bees. There are no bees, or any other large insects of any kind. Frogs, and small reptiles, just seem to being doing business as usual. Willamette Valley, OR.

 

[ArlyA]

Thanks for the reports guys. Prompts me to get our feeders out.

 

[goeduck]

I had to scramble this morning to get feeders refilled before heading out. A brain furt had me skipping filling them on Monday. One feeder still had juice in it, so I hope to have not lost my flock to neighbors.

 

[sixdogs]

Wife saw one zoom by her yesterday, two gulps at a feeder and then off to a spruce treeline. We never see many in the spring at the feeders but usually do as the seasons progresses. Last year was not many at the feeders but for a few years before we had an excess of birds during the summer.

Bird populations are cyclical and rise and fall with natural disasters of migration hazards. I suppose it strengthens the herd. Jut because you have none or even too many, don't presume it will be that way forever. Read back some of the earlier posts in this thread as you can see.

We paid our dues during the quiet years and then got swamped when things recovered. We kept their feeders clean, changed fluid every few days and when the population came back we had almost more than we wanted. Almost.