The Uncaged Bird - Hummingbirds have arrived in South Orange! As well as Great Blue Herons!

Oh to have the land, and the time, to devote to this fascinating project!

This is bloke is Canadian.  It is his leisure-time work.

https://youtu.be/4LvaX748pVI

Taylor Park at 7:00 p.m.  Who knew there was a night shift?

While everyone waits for the Groundhogs, I trust the Robins. Once again they arrived on the first day of February and a huge flock of them stayed in my garden for days stripping the berries off of my Holly trees. They have convinced me that Spring will arrive right ontime.

Some beautiful photos of Gang-gang cockatoos in the foothills near my city this month from iNaturalist.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/152912392

Click along the thumbnails.

So when do hummingbird feeders need to go up? (I see the thread title, but missed the post I guess.)

sac said:

So when do hummingbird feeders need to go up? (I see the thread title, but missed the post I guess.)

I put my feeders up this weekend. I usually see my first Hummingbird around the second week of April.

Here's the interactive map showing a sighting in Delaware.

https://www.hummingbird-guide.com/hummingbird-migration.html#growMeRecommId=b3bf8b15980f2fde7968db84cf25f9a2&growSource=recs

Great day for a dip in the pool!

I haven't seen a Hummingbird yet but the past few years I've spotted them between the 18th and Earth Day so I'm changing the sugar water and watching carefully. It was a beautiful Earth Day for doing a little early planting.  I put Alyssum in around one of my bird baths. The honey fragrance of those dainty white flowers were intoxicating on this sunny afternoon. Did a bit of daydreaming in the hammock, sipped coffee and and watched the birds and bees play.

Any hummingbirds yet?  I've had my feeders out for a couple of weeks, but no sign here so far.

I'm in western Morris County and had a male yesterday. I had just put 2 of my small feeders the day before. Yay! 

sac said:

Any hummingbirds yet?  I've had my feeders out for a couple of weeks, but no sign here so far.

Yes! I had my first boy at the feeder yesterday! Not a new picture but posting just to draw attention to the announcement! I posted on Earth Day that I usually have males by then but I spotted my first on the the 25th this year.

Boys coming to the feeder daily! They are quite small but bellying up to the bar while the honeysuckle begins to open.

This is a previous year's picture of either a female or a juvenile.

Still haven't seen any here, although I haven't exactly been spending a lot of time on my deck recently, which is where the feeders are. (We can see them from our kitchen, but they don't necessarily draw our attention if we aren't looking at the right time.)

sac said:

Still haven't seen any here, although I haven't exactly been spending a lot of time on my deck recently, which is where the feeders are. (We can see them from our kitchen, but they don't necessarily draw our attention if we aren't looking at the right time.)

Mine is busy and I tried to estimate when it was late enough to clean and refill the feeder last night and I wasn't late enough! I was only a minute or two and instantly saw a thirsty Hummer as I was rinsing the feeder. It was about 7:30. I rushed it back out and the little one returned in about 15 minutes. 

I definitely saw a female or juvenile today as there was no sign of the ruby throat.

We had at least three females (never saw a male) that were regular visitors late last summer. (I had given up but then they got attracted to some flowers we had and I rushed the feeders back out then.)  No sign yet this year, though.

Feeders up for 2 days here near Prospect- no visitors that we have seen yet.

How about this rare visitor! A Great Blue Heron landed on my garage roof yesterday!

Do you guys have a preferred hummingbird feeder?  I'm thinking of getting one.  We've had them buzzing around our zinnias in the past.

jamie said:

Do you guys have a preferred hummingbird feeder?  I'm thinking of getting one.  We've had them buzzing around our zinnias in the past.

Yes! The Humzinger. BestNest.com has them. That's mine in the photo.

The long ones that were glass, get mold very quickly and this one is more comfortable. I have at least 2 birds already, saw them chasing each other.

lynnl199 said:

Feeders up for 2 days here near Prospect- no visitors that we have seen yet.

first hummer on Garfield Place today…several visits 

lynnl199 said:

first hummer on Garfield Place today…several visits 

Terrific!

Morganna said:

jamie said:

Do you guys have a preferred hummingbird feeder?  I'm thinking of getting one.  We've had them buzzing around our zinnias in the past.

Yes! The Humzinger. BestNest.com has them. That's mine in the photo.

The long ones that were glass, get mold very quickly and this one is more comfortable. I have at least 2 birds already, saw them chasing each other.

I have a humzinger, but the hummingbirds seem to prefer an old vertical feeder that I have (and, unfortunately, is probably not going to last much longer.)

sac said:

I have a humzinger, but the hummingbirds seem to prefer an old vertical feeder that I have (and, unfortunately, is probably not going to last much longer.)

Problem with the vertical feeders is the exposed glass can get moldy very quickly. 

I'm have a lull at my feeder. This has happened before. I once read that the early hummingbirds are the ones on their way north. We may not have the resident flock yet. Or is everyone else's feeder busy?

This hummer came in for a bath and a drink when I was watering a new tree a few days ago. It was hard to keep the spray going and take pictures at the same time!

mrincredible said:

This hummer came in for a bath and a drink when I was watering a new tree a few days ago. It was hard to keep the spray going and take pictures at the same time!

Do you have a feeder up? Right after I posted the low traffic at my feeder I got a Hummer drinking from my Honeysuckle vine which surrounds the feeder. I pruned it mercilessly last year and expected decreased blooms but it is insanely wild. Pics coming up.