Counting hummingbirds

avorancher · Aug 13, 2006

Our hummer population continues to increase and now I'm trying to estimate how many of these entertaining visitors we might have. My wife and I have been able to collectively count about 31 at one time (4 feeders), but know there are a lot more since they are constantly moving.

We're up to about a gallon of sugar-water a day...about 10 lbs of sugar a week.

Can I claim them a dependents this year on my tax forms?

goaliedad · Aug 13, 2006

WOW- we only have three that visit us. That must be a sight!

we have been having trouble with wasps keeping the birds away-any advice?

jinman · Aug 13, 2006

We only have one feeder, but refill it every other day. It seems to me that the drought here caused a lot less wild flowers and thus a lot less nectar. This year's flock of hummingbirds is the biggest I've ever seen. I call them "buzz bugs," and if you have that many, your place must really buzz. With all of them chirping too, I bet it gets noisy around there.

EddieWalker · Aug 13, 2006

You're what we call and "over-achiever" hahahaha

Steph put out one hummng bird feeder and we waited months for our first bird to show up. Now there are four that have taken over. We never thought that we'd get that many. Now that we've read your post, we feel like we've been slacking and need to add another feeder at least!!!!

Any pics??

Eddie

avorancher · Aug 13, 2006

I find it difficult to take photos of more than just a couple at a time with my still camera, but attached are a couple still frames from a video I took.

We're lucky enough to have hummers all year, but lately the population just seem to be increasing. I think we might have a couple hundred??

Paddy · Aug 13, 2006

That is quite nice photos! We started out with one feeder and we were not so good about keeping it filled. Now the wife no longer works...outside the home, she fills two daily. We can have 5-6 on each feeder. keep them filled and have plenty of feeders and in a year or two, they will run you out!

wushaw · Aug 13, 2006

Eddie, I take it you have lisnened to Rodney Carrington

I have one feeder and three birds this year. They will go through it in four days.

JPinnell · Aug 14, 2006

We only have 3 feeders, but they each hold a quart. If I fill after dark the previos night on a busy day they can empty them by 4pm depending on the weather and temp. Usually it's just under 3 quarts a day and we use a 10lb bag of sugar every 10-12 days. I use the Best-1 32oz feeder and it has a scale on the side for consuption. According to it 100 birds will consume a quart of 4:1 nectar in a day. So I'm around 250 birds. The Missouri Conservation magazone had an article about a guy who had 8 feeders and used 300lbs of sugar in a season

- JP

mwechtal · Aug 14, 2006

goaliedad said:
WOW- we only have three that visit us. That must be a sight!

we have been having trouble with wasps keeping the birds away-any advice?

Gee, you must not have Ruby Throated Hummingbirds. Ours will chase away wasps, hornets, bees, and Robbins (that aren't interested in the sugar water anyway). I swear they would chase away cats and Eagles if we had any.

They are VERY agressive little guys. When they are little, sometimes we have 2 on the feeder at once, but it's rare. The adults will absolutely not share.

Do you have bee guards on the feeder?

Mike

Harleymsn · Aug 15, 2006

Wow, nice pics. We have about 8-10 here. The wife has 2 feeders one is a 32 oz. and another 8 oz. one. The 8 oz will last most of the day, the quart will last about 2 days.

kossetx · Aug 15, 2006

Goliedad, To aswer your question, well, there really is no solution. Perky-pet.com has a feeder that has a "bee guard", and it works OK. I also use something called a "Fatel Funnel" wich attracts bees wasps and hornets. It gets rid of a lot of yellow jackets, but not many red wasps. I got that at HFT. I constantly look for a way to get rid of those mean red wasps. MP

vmarc · Aug 15, 2006

We're having visits from an insect that looks and acts like a hummer.I think it's called a hummingbird moth.It's almost as fun to watch as a real hummer.

avorancher · Aug 16, 2006

We have three 32oz feeders and one 48oz feeder, all about 10 feet from each other. If one male tries to dominate, the others just use the other feeders until he leaves. I would be shocked to look out the window and not see half-dozen or so at any given time. I use two other 32oz feeders to rotate while I clean and fill the primary ones. My wife wants me to hang more feeders, but I think we have plenty of hummers already!

Bees? We have plenty of other hummingbird flowers in the same area, and the bees prefer lavender and Mexican Heather to the feeders. The Hummers do respect the bees however and will move out of the way for them.

When I fill the feeders each morning, Hummers will get quite close to me and if I move slowly, some will perch on my finger and drink from the feeder. Sometimes they buzz right in front of my face to check me out...I used to wear sunglasses because I was afraid they would poke me in the eye before I could react, but I've also gotten used to them now.

oliver28472 · Aug 16, 2006

I have four feeders at home and one on a window suction cup at the office. I think we have had more this year due to the juice getting gone. Had to catch one in the garage the other day. He couldn't get out by himself and kept bouncing off the screen. I got a ladder and caught him in my hand. He got away fine. Sister had one get caught and killed in a garden spider web a few years ago. She didn't have a problem with the spider till then.

JRobyn · Aug 16, 2006

FIL in central TN goes through about 3/4 gal of nectar per day at his house, and is now also going through almost 1/2 gal at "the farm". He's been feeding at the house for many years, but only started at the farm this year, so we're surprised to have so many there so soon. We kid him about being "birdman". It seems that it takes a few years of continued feeding to get really large populations.