Ruby-throated hummingbird migration 2019

/pine · Mar 17, 2019

They are on the move...it won't be long...

Hummingbird Migration Spring 2019. Migration Map for Spring 2019.

There are several other sites/maps out there...

jbrumberg · Mar 17, 2019

/pine- Thanks for the link. I saw my first redwings blackbirds here yesterday. Another 1.5 months +/- 2 weeks before I anticipate the hummers returning here.

buickanddeere · Mar 18, 2019

Going to be another month before we see the wee fellows .

CMV · Mar 18, 2019

I hope we get more this year. Last year was very few.

Usually get the silvery-green ones. I like them because they are fearless. I can be standing right next to the feeder & they just come right to it anyway

Doesn't happen often, but I like it when I'm standing there & 1-3 come to feeder just a few feet away. Get a good look at them for the brief time they hang out there.

/pine · Mar 18, 2019

CMV said:
I hope we get more this year. Last year was very few.

Usually get the silvery-green ones. I like them because they are fearless. I can be standing right next to the feeder & they just come right to it anyway Doesn't happen often, but I like it when I'm standing there & 1-3 come to feeder just a few feet away. Get a good look at them for the brief time they hang out there.

FWIW...The Ruby-throated is the only humming bird to inhabit the Eastern US...(they migrate to and from Mexico and Central America)

If you have the patience you can get them to sit on your finger at a feeder or sit on your hand with a held feeder...

get hummingbird to land on finger - Google Search

ArlyA · Mar 18, 2019

Rubies are the only ones we see here on the great lakes. Normally anyway. The do jump across the gulf on there way to Mexico (or back) from Florida. Although I thought they would winter along the southern shores of US as well. They have been seen resting on boats in the gulf. Funny life of those little birds.

oosik · Mar 18, 2019

I don't think I get Rubbies over here on the east side. It's some other brand. Now this year, I've had red winged black bird down in the cattails for well over a month now.

But humming birds - not quite yet. I still have a foot of snow in the yard.

I vacuum the living room carpet, weekly, and get two big 'ol handfuls of dog hair - Chocolate Lab. I will now start saving it and when they show - I'll put it out for them. Be interesting to see if they will accept dog hair for use in building a nest. Be interesting to see if any of the birds will accept it.

ArlyA · Mar 18, 2019

The rubies show up her with snow on the ground and no flowers out whatsoever. Rubies use spider webs for the nest material and maybe that fuzz cattails produce. There have super flexible and stretchy nests but maybe all the hummer varieties do.

oosik · Mar 18, 2019

I wonder. I know the black birds use the cattail fuzz. The humming bird nests are so very far up in my ancient pines and so very small - never been able to spot one. We actually will get two types of hummers. One is called Rufous and the other is called Black Chined. It's quite rare to see a Rufous over here though.

Deere Dude · Mar 18, 2019

I hate hummingbirds. As soon as my hummingbird loving wife sees one I can't target shoot off the porch anymore until they are gone. She says it scares them, the big babies.