rt return

[snookerdude]

after not seeing a hummer since november, last week i finally saw a male rt in my coral honeysuckle that is all over a crape myrtle. i've had my feeder out for about 6 weeks but it is still un visited except by a pair of black capped chickadees. wanted to get a pic but haven't yet. the rt is visiting the coral honeysuckle and my shrimp plants. today i saw a black chinned hummer for the first time this spring. this it the 3d year i've seen one about this time. the last couple of years i spotted him only for a couple of days and he moved on. my 3 shrimp plants are lush with blossoms and the 2 coral honeysuckles are beginning to fill up too. anyone else ever see the chickadees drinking from a feeder???

[marthaloul]

I live in south Lakeland near Poley Creek.
This morning I saw a hummer in the Justicia and then in my new feeder. Haven't seen any since November so I am on cloud nine!

[snookerdude]

two days ago i saw three male rt's in my shrimp plant. i saw two that were the same size at the same time feeding on opposite ends of the hedge. when they spotted each other the joust was on. then later on i saw runt drive off one of the larger males. i also saw a male black-chinned male feeding in the coral honeysuckle. today i saw a female rt in the shrimp plant. this is the first female rt i've seen here since 2010. she spent a good bit of time perched in the shrimp plant each feeding episode, watching me from 6 to 8 feet away from me.javascript:add("%20;D") still have not seen a hummer on the feeder; but the black capped chickadees are still using it.

[snookerdude]

today was the first time i've seen a hummer in my tababuia tree. i've looked for several years but never seen one there. today there two female rt's dog fighting around it. the blossoms are quite large and the feeding was unusual. the hummer would go into a blossom and steady itself with it's feet against the bottom of the blossom; it would feed for just a few seconds and back off about eight inches for a few seconds and go back into the same blossom. it would work a blossom for 12 to 15 times in a row and then go on to another blossom. i've noticed over the years that the blossoms are loaded with insects, large and small. i think this feeding behavior was because half of it's body was inside the blossom and it couldn't see if there was a threat of any kind while in there.

today was the first time i've seen a hummer use my feeder that is a year and a half old. a male rt did a quick sip and moved on to the shrimp plants.

here's a shot of one of my black capped chickadees drinking from the feeder. they are a hoot; as soon as they drink they find a limb to perch upon and begin furiously, thoroughly wiping their beaks on a limb.

Attachments:

[kathyb]

Our male rt returned middle of March. He stared into our window and my husband immediately put out the feeders. He has been coming by multiple times during the day now. We live in Hernando, Fl