It's that time again!!!!

[seez52]

We're in country, not much gentrification here. I did see one bird this afternoon. Maybe they were just passing thru 

[Tuffus]

I've seen 3 during the last 2 weeks since I hung my feeders out. Never more than one at a time on any feeder so far.

 

[Omega]

The two I hung are empty, I suspect it all leaked out.  I just ordered two of the saucer types because I hate feeding piss ants.

[bersaguy]

10 hours ago, Omega said:

The two I hung are empty, I suspect it all leaked out.  I just ordered two of the saucer types because I hate feeding piss ants.

I cured my piss ant problem with white lithium grease. put some all the way around the area where to hook hanger is and have no more piss ants. But got about 6 or 8 birds at present. Going to change out the sugar water today. That in the feeders is a couple weeks old.

[Omega]

2 hours ago, bersaguy said:

I cured my piss ant problem with white lithium grease. put some all the way around the area where to hook hanger is and have no more piss ants. But got about 6 or 8 birds at present. Going to change out the sugar water today. That in the feeders is a couple weeks old.

My issue was the leak, they haven't yet got to the feeder itself.  The bowl type I ordered has a built in most for ants, it gets good reviews against ants and bees, so hopefully I won't have any issues.

[bersaguy]

Well I don't have as many birds as I thought I would have by now but it's still early. I do have one that really stands out though. The bird is a regular and has 2 different feeders it can use. I have one of those small Red Headed Woodpecker that spends time on 2 of my feeders every day. He is kind of funny to watch. He will drink some of the water and then groom with some one it. He will put his beak in the feeder and get some water and then roll upside down and hang from the feeder and groom himself. He will do ths for about 15 minutes everyday and sometimes twice a day.

[peejman]

It's breeding season so they're likely eating more bugs than nectar. They need the extra protein to feed their babies. 

[bersaguy]

Quote

 

Well, I have no clue what is going on with the birds this year. I have replaced the food in the feeders twice in last 2 weeks but have no birds. Just that retarded woodpecker that thinks he's a Hummingbird. Any one got any birds???

[E4 No More]

I have seen ONE Hummingbird at the feeder outside my home office, (I work from home), and I have had American Goldfinches, House Finches, and House Sparrows at the feeder all day. I had an Eastern Bluebird land at the feeder and then fly off.

[Tuffus]

I have 2 regulars at my feeders. Last year at this time I had 6 regulars for the rest of the year.

[bersaguy]

Has anyone got any birds on their feeders???? I have been changing the food in my feeders every week but still don't have anything except that retarded woodpecker that has 1 feeder he will drink out of and then use the water to groom himself about every other day. He is fun to watch but I would like to have some Hummingbirds too. 

[dralarms]

I’ve got 6 feeders out and maybe 4 birds throughout the day. Wonder what I’m doing wrong. 

[A.J. Holst]

just saw my first one feeding on the second blooming of our Rose of Sharon

Hope it will find the feeder on the front porch.

We typical get one constant visitor who doesn't seem to bring friends along

[bersaguy]

Here is that crazy wood pecker I keep telling yall about that thinks it is a Hummingbird!!

[dralarms]

My woodpeckers don’t mess with the hummingbird feeders. They do hang upside down and eat out of the bird feeders though. 

[peejman]

That's a Downy woodpecker. Never seen that before. 

[bersaguy]

59 minutes ago, peejman said:

That's a Downy woodpecker. Never seen that before. 

Well all I know is it's a woodpecker and I don't just have 1. I have 3 that fight over that particular feeder all day long. two of them have the darker heads and one of them is bright Red but he does not show up as much as the other 2. I just wanted people to know I was not imagining having a wood pecker on my HB feeders.

[peejman]

I would guess the one with red is a red bellied or hairy woodpecker. We have a red bellied that hangs under the sunflower seed feeders when we run out of suet. 

https://www.thespruce.com/photos-of-common-woodpecker-species-4121955

 

[peejman]

At long last, we finally have a single pair of hummingbirds eating from our feeder. Only took 4 months. 

[seez52]

Yes, we finally have 4 fighting over our feeder. Maybe as the summer winds on more will come. 

[n0rlf]

My wife has five feeders out and one small one on a window. She has to fill them daily. We have squadrons of the little buggers. I do love watching them. They get very close indeed when we just sit on porch quietly. If I held a feeder still for a couple days I could probably get them to land for it. But I shake too much for that these days. They are some pretty mean birds at times. One gets protective over a single feeder and we have Hummer wars. Lol

[E4 No More]

I had a single hummingbird at my feeder yesterday.

[peejman]

11 hours ago, seez52 said:

Yes, we finally have 4 fighting over our feeder. Maybe as the summer winds on more will come. 

You might get a few stop-overs, but migration season has already begun. 

[bersaguy]

I have no clue what is going on with the Hummingbirds this year. This is the first year I have not had any permanent birds. They will come and feed a day or two and then nothing for a week or more and then 1 or 2 more and then nothing. Normally I have at least 10 to 15+ birds all year. I have changed out the feeder food every week to 10 days. Most folks I know that have a bunch of birds have not had any this year either. I have one old friend that lives on Old Hickory lake and he plants all the different flowers they love every year and puts up 10+ feeders cause he always has 50+ birds. I spoke to him yesterday and he said he has not had more then 10 birds all year that hung around any time at all. Natures telling us something and we need to begin trying to find out what it is. Let me ask folks something. Who had the red nectar in their feeders and who had sugar water? and who had birds stay around and who didn't. The Old Man on the lake said he split up and wet water in some and nectar in some but it didn't seem to matter cause he still didn't get the numbers of birds he normally gets.

[peejman]

Plenty of possibilities....

An unusual wind/weather pattern in the spring pushed the birds somewhere else during their migration here.

A Headwind could have stopped them from coming this far, or they didn't make it at all.

Bad winter in South America could have cut the numbers significantly. 

Hurricane Harvey could have killed  a lot of them on their way south last fall.