All
the hummers are transients right now; all my regulars are gone. Here's hoping
for a safe trip for them all. It was not a good year for hummingbirds this
year; too dry of weather causing almost no flowers and not a great year for the
little insects that they also eat. I had very busy feeders this year (not
unusual) but there were less individuals visiting and I noticed only one
nesting period when we usually seem to have two. I get real tired of making the
sugar-water concentrate over the season and having to constantly fill the
feeders but I really like the little things and miss them when they go and I am
always eager to see the first one in the spring. I hope my troubles of making
sure they have sugar-water helps them out. They have helped me since we started
attracting them, by eating bugs and whatnot, not to mention entertainment. I
have taken a few feeders down so far and am not having to fill the others
everyday anymore. I didn't have to fill any today and will probably take
another down tomorrow. I had nine up this year and had to fill them all at
least once in a day and a half for the less popular ones, and as much as twice
a day for the most popular ones. The change happened fast this year, from
constant maintenance to almost none in a day. I think it might be because of a
lesser number of young this year; they tend to stick around a bit longer than
the older ones.
There
is one male, in particular, that I look forward to every year but he has got to
be getting close to the end of his life. He stands out because he is built a
tad different than the others--he is
short and stocky--we call him little fatty.
I have been able to pick out some of his offspring because of the
stockiness; he had a real good year about three years ago and a bunch of stocky
young ones were born. I kind off have the feeling this was his last year. But
some of his offspring come back every year too. We will see next spring who
shows up.
