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Post by ocalawatcher on Jul 8, 2012 14:25:07 GMT -5
Hello,
I am new to this forum. I have several Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds in my backyard. I live in Ocala, Fl. The first one arrived on April 1st, as they always do. They feed on Pentas, red Million Bells, and 4 Perky Pet nectar feeders. This year I have a lot of both male and female hummers. But as of the last 4 days I have noticed that their visits to the feeders, and in general the appearance of them at all, has greatly diminished! Not sure if the heat has them migrating farther north. I have heard that the males actually start migrating south already at this time of year. But then I have also heard that the Ruby-Throated hummers live here all year. Or maybe they are just nesting right now. Anyway, just wanted to share my hummer happenings with this forum. I am excited to learn more!
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Post by ocalawatcher on Jul 24, 2012 14:57:32 GMT -5
So I have noticed a large increase in male RTH in my backyard and they are VERY dominating over the feeders. And as of today the number of females have started to increase again. I wonder if they were nesting when I reported the decrease in numbers on July 8th. Boy the males are hard to get pictures of! I have several pictures of the females though. I do have one picture of a male and it looks like he may have a band on his left leg. I would love to post some of the pics. Can anyone fill me in on how to do that?
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Post by moboston on Jul 24, 2012 15:50:30 GMT -5
If you want to post a picture here, hit reply at the bottom (not quick reply) and it will give you a place that has the subject at the top, below that it says "attachment". Click where it says Browse and that takes you to where you have your pics stored on your computer. Open that and find the one you want to post. Make sure it is within the size limits and click on the picture- it should come up in the box to the left of the word Browse. (not the picture but the picture site and number. Then write whatever you want and hit Post Reply at the bottom.
Would love to see a picture of the one with the band. A few of us here have had birds banded in the winter and of course the banders band throughout the summer in the other areas of the country.
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Post by ocalawatcher on Aug 16, 2012 18:55:46 GMT -5
FRT I think. I have quite a few females and at least 2 males in my back yard. The one that I think is banded the picture has to be really zoomed in to see the band and not really worth posting. Attachments:
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Post by ocalawatcher on Oct 31, 2012 16:08:17 GMT -5
Well I think all of my RTHs have left for the winter. I was really hoping to have some over winter here but maybe Ocala is too far north. It sounds like places just 2 hours south of me still have hummers. The RTHs here disappeared right around October 1st. I guess it is safe for me to take down the feeders. I have 3 of them up. Anyone think I should leave one up or not? And when to put them back out? I usually see them around April 1st here in Ocala.
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Post by Joe M on Nov 2, 2012 12:35:48 GMT -5
Please leave a feeder up, since I feel you will be surprised and see more hummers as the weather gets colder.
Ocala always has hummers in the winter months, as Fred B. and Fred D. both band them there at least once a winter. And usually more than just Ruby-throated. Keep the faith and be patient!
Joe M.
Lakeland
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Post by ocalawatcher on Nov 5, 2012 15:11:55 GMT -5
That is wonderful news! Thank you for the information Joe.
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Post by ocalawatcher on Mar 16, 2013 8:15:44 GMT -5
Yeah my RTH are back! I am soooo happy! I had my first sighting on March 12th. A male with a very brilliant dark green back and such a dark gorget. His head and throat looked entirely black until I saw the light catch his throat to see the red. He is smaller than I remember them last year, but I am always amazed at how small hummers are. He is visiting a feeder outside my kitchen window and seems to have staked his claim on it. I can not say for sure if it is the same male from last year. But a male hummer did indeed "own" that feeder all summer last year! Then this morning I spotted a female feeding from a different feeder. I usually do not get hummers here until April 1st. But last year after planting some of their favorite things and finding feeders that they really like it seems I did ok because they are back earlier and I could not be more thrilled!
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Post by Joe M on Mar 16, 2013 9:06:47 GMT -5
We had very favorable winds across the Gulf with the passage of this cold front earlier in the week. So I'm not surprised that hummers are showing up all along the gulf coast.
As a note to your last post... Usually one can surmise that a new spring arrival is retracing his or her path from the previous year.
As a result I have been putting my feeders in the same places for about 10 yrs now. I have seen hummers come back in the fall and keep circling and going back to the same spot where a feeder was the previous year but I had forgot to put it up! I suspect your male has visited your yard before and probably the same bird you had last year.
Joe M.
Lakeland, FL
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Post by ocalawatcher on Apr 17, 2013 19:40:33 GMT -5
Wow I am witnessing so many great RTH behaviors this spring! The last 2 weeks I have witnessed some strange behavior between 2 hummingbirds and at least once I was able to identify them as male and female. After some research from my husband it seems we are watching the mating dive of the male! So cool. The sounds he makes are so different from their normal squeaks! I also have some short video footage of a slower paced RTH "dance" I witnessed last season. 2 hummers kind of twirling around each other and it went on for like 30 minutes, It was not the normal battling over a food source that we normally witness. So probably another form of the mating dive I guess. I need to upload the video to Youtube so I can share it with everyone. And we finally have a female RT feeding from our window feeder! Yeah! Still have a male that can not quite seem to figure out how to access the sugar water. But he keeps trying!
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