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Post by sperki on Oct 13, 2015 17:48:34 GMT -5
I started researching hummingbird sightings in this area about a year ago. I was motivated by article in local newspaper last year around December. It had photo of MRT that had flown into multilevel complex window. I was told I would never get one to my feeder because there was so much natural nectar source in our area. Happy to report, "build it and they will come". My first visiter to feeder was March 2015 and after a long summer of no sightings I have a FRT visiting my feeder for the past 4 days. I'm hooked on watching these incredible creatures.
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Post by Tricia on Oct 4, 2016 19:14:18 GMT -5
Naples Park, Today we had our first hummingbird ever😄, it arrived at dusk and was feeing on pink Pentas 😊. Oct 5, 2016
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Post by Tricia on Oct 5, 2016 17:52:24 GMT -5
Naples Park, Today we had our first hummingbird ever😄, it arrived at dusk and was feeing on pink Pentas 😊. Oct 5, 2016 Sorry, new to this, I have lived in Naples, Fl for 27 years and have never seen one in my garden until yesterday. It was late/dusk and I couldn't identify it. |
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Post by sperki on Oct 6, 2016 11:09:15 GMT -5
That's great to hear. Three Ruby Throat hummingbirds showed up this year on September 19th. That's a couple weeks earlier than last year. The hummingbird you saw is most likely a Ruby Throat also as that is the species around here. Enjoy them, last year we had two that stayed until almost the middle of April.
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Port Charlotte newbie
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Post by Port Charlotte newbie on Dec 18, 2016 10:02:41 GMT -5
That's great to hear. Three Ruby Throat hummingbirds showed up this year on September 19th. That's a couple weeks earlier than last year. The hummingbird you saw is most likely a Ruby Throat also as that is the species around here. Enjoy them, last year we had two that stayed until almost the middle of April. New to SW Florida but not new to hummingbirds. From the Atlanta area where hummingbirds were plentiful all summer long. Seems to be a bit backwards here from what I read. Some of the things I have read hold no water. For instance, too much for them to feed on to eat from a feeder. Ha! Hummingbirds are the most curious and bravest of the brace and will investigate anything. Especially feeders. Anyway, I am usually a day late and a dollar short. Just putting out a feeder today. Is it too late? Or is there just possibly a chance I might see one? |
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Post by sperki on Dec 25, 2016 13:21:46 GMT -5
For Port Charlotte newbie - I haven't been looking on this Board for a month or more and just saw your post here on Christmas day.
I have lived in the Naples area for 22 years and only became active in trying to attract hummers 3 years ago.
I was told all the same things about too much natural food around and that so few people see them here.
Since 2015 I have been fortunate to have RTs show up SEP/OCT timeframe and they usually hang around until the end of APR. That's not to say that others on this Board haven't seen them at other times.
A MRT and FRT visit my feeders every day and have since SEP 19th this year. I just finished watching the female for about an hour as she spent time flittering among the leaves of a very large Ficus tree in my backyard and the 5 feeders I have spread through the yard. They love my Red Fire Spike which has pretty much past bloom for now, but a Purple Fire Spike near it is just starting to
bloom out and they nectared at it heavily last year. Good luck.
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Post by Joe M on Dec 25, 2016 15:41:07 GMT -5
Quote by Port Charlotte newbie: "New to SW Florida but not new to hummingbirds. From the Atlanta area where hummingbirds were plentiful all summer long. Seems to be a bit backwards here from what I read. Some of the things I have read hold no water. For instance, too much for them to feed on to eat from a feeder. Ha! Hummingbirds are the most curious and bravest of the brace and will investigate anything. Especially feeders. Anyway, I am usually a day late and a dollar short. Just putting out a feeder today. Is it too late? Or is there just possibly a chance I might see one?"
In the southern part of the State in the winter months, Nov.- Mar., putting out a feeder is never too late. We are a bit backward, here in south and central FL, and the opportunity to host a few hummers in the winter months is much higher in the winter than the summer, as in areas further north (Atlanta, etc.). Food supply is the primary reason! Bird species that rely on nectar and insects for their survival are hard pressed to find areas further north that provide either during the winter months. FL's climate, during the winter months, provides both food sources and why we have more hummingbird activity in the winter months than the summer months. It's unclear why we don't have more hummers in the winter months but instinctive migratory behavior over many multiple generation may be part of the reason. Central America still has plentiful food sources and more flowering plants that depend on pollination by hummingbirds than we have in FL. Most of our plants that are particularly attractive to hummers have been introduced plants from central and south America in the last several decades, few are native to FL. That may explain why the majority of hummers bypass FL in their annual migrations between central America and our Northern States, A single "fire bush" may produce thousands of blooms and present itself as a far more attractive source of food than an artificial feeder or two. some hummers even though inquisitive and curious never seem to use artificial feeders, as I have observed, in FL. during the summer months and occasionally during the early winter months as they are migrating. Using a feeder is a "learned behavior" very quickly copied by a hummer observing another feeding from a feeder. With few hummers in a yard it becomes less likely that a hummer is accustomed to an artificial feeder and being a role model for others but it also explains why in areas where hummers are abundant their are numerous "role models" and a reason for other inexperienced hummers to follow suit!
I have little reason to compare my experience with hummers in the NE US (MA) and South Texas with my 30+ yr. experience in FL. All I can say is that it is different for so many reasons.
For the time being I tend to adapt to their behavior rather than expecting them to adapt to mine!
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Post by DougInNaples on Feb 9, 2017 20:30:49 GMT -5
I read that nearly half of a hummingbird's diet is insects, so maybe the "dryness" of winter season here and that they seem to be pretty active at spraying for mosquitoes etc keeps the populations down.
No moisture, no fruit, no bugs, less flowers...
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