Hummingbirds

[CanuckShooter]

Has anyone been seeing the littler hummer birds in BC yet?? My wife is wondering??

[kishman]

I was hiking in the Skagit yesterday and didn't see one,usually more toward the end of April I think.....

[Walksalot]

It is still a little early for the little buggers to be flying around. As they feed mostly on necture I don't expect to see them until things are flowering in a rather larger way.

[sub urban bow hunter]

I haven't actually seen any yet, but I did hear the very distinctive buzzing noise they make, just last evening as I was fetching wood.
I am certain that what I heard was a hummingbird, this was the first time this year that I have heard them.
This was on south Vancouver Island so maybe they are not as far north as PG yet...

[Gunner]

We get three kinds of hummingbirds,Rufous,Calliope's,and Black-chinned.Last year the first one showed on April 8th.By May I'll have 50 to 60 at my feeders.If it's a cold spring they show up late.They usually show up at Mabel Lake about the same time as the blackies come out!Cheers,Gunner:-D

[bcboy]

There here!! One anyway.

[PGKris]

Not yet man. Three rosy finches this morning on the boat though. Spring wins!

[johnes50]

One was snooping around my wifes flowerbed. Nothing much up yet, but she plants hummingbird friendly flowers and they're regular visitors all summer. This one must have been a regular visitor from last year, although I think some winter over here on the South Island.

[PGKris]

We had two living in the trees over the hot tub last summer. Wouldn't stop dive-bombing us! They get kind of scary after the third or fourth head-grab:shock:

[Mr. Dean]

I had one buzz my deck about a Month ago durring that week strech of nice weather AND another one this past weekend.

PGKris;
Know what you mean. them little things can be RUTHLESS. :shock: :-o :???:

[Walksalot]

Oh man, I can see a Humming Bird defence thread waiting to be born.:eek:

[boxhitch]

No, I bet we'll see the "Is a 12 ga. adequate ?" post first.

[rock]

Are green violet tree swallows are back, which means the humming birds are not far behind, my wife heard one towards the lake on her walk the other day, they are cool to watch, we get up to 15 or 20+ every year same as the tree swallows up to 5 pair.

[Walker]

On the south end of the island there is a subspecies resident here all year round. But the first of the transients that I started seeing was about a month ago.

[000buck]

No, I bet we'll see the "Is a 12 ga. adequate ?" post first.


Although the 12gu is effective on most sub species of humming bird a 10gu semi auto is the best all round choice for humming bird defence.

[ruger#1]

i seen two white swallows and the tree frogs are singing in chilliwack, i heard on hummingbird fly bye me yesterday in mission, the salmon berrie bushes are in bloom so are the rhodos.

[CanuckShooter]

Well it sounds like they a coming north soon....the wife is digging up her feeders...thanks guys

[Walksalot]

My mother loved hummingbirds and even named our cabin after one. I always thought this to be a goofy name until she requested hummingbirds be etched on her tombstone. Now I love the name.:grin: Everytime a humming bird hovers close by I can' thelp thinking it's my mom just stopping to say hi.:-D

[Fred]

That is a very nice thought John. Fred

[Farmer]

My Mom has them show up at her window around Apr. 10 every year. We call them her welfare bums. She can use 3 quarts of sugar water a day feeding them.
Gord

[Islandeer]

Seen one driving towards Victoria, quite a large one actually....

[Iron-Head]

I am seeing and heaaring them all day here on the sunshine coast and they have a bright purple and red throats with like a tiger orange and black back very neat looking birds.This morning I was walking down to my pond and I had pj bottoms on with bright red lips on them and There was this one who kept on flying towards the red color I guess,He got withing about 5 feet before buggerin off.

[death-junky]

ive seen a few in Port Al so ya they are coming :D
ttyal
Riley

[Big Lew]

I have Anna's hummingbirds (currently 3 pairs) staying over winter here in the
Fraser Valley. This winter the temperatures have gone down to -10, sometimes
with a wind chill factor of -25 yet the little birds show up early each morning for
their sugar water. I have a small heat light under the feeders which I turn on if
the temperature dips down below -3 so that the nectar doesn't freeze.
Does anyone know just how low the temperature can go before the birds can't
survive?

[finngun]

Those little birdies can hibernate when its getting really cold..8-) real survivers..

[Bonz]

learned something new...

Due to their high metabolism and small body size, hummingbirds rely upon a state of suspended animation, known as torpor, to survive cold nights. Because tropical hummingbird species also have rigid metabolic budgets, even they rely on daily torpor to conserve energy

https://www.theguardian.com/science/punctuated-equilibrium/2006/apr/09/hummingbirds-survive-cold-nights

[Big Lew]

learned something new...

Due to their high metabolism and small body size, hummingbirds rely upon a state of suspended animation, known as torpor, to survive cold nights. Because tropical hummingbird species also have rigid metabolic budgets, even they rely on daily torpor to conserve energy

https://www.theguardian.com/science/punctuated-equilibrium/2006/apr/09/hummingbirds-survive-cold-nights

Yes, I've read several articles similar to that one but none of them give specific low temperature maximums
where the birds can't survive. Not much I can do about it except hope these birds don't find out.

[Bonz]

im the same here, more than ive ever seen before, and hant been near this cold during winter. couple of my neighbours have feeder and its always bussy around her with them. and during breeding time

[kevan]

We have three feeders on the go, not sure how many Hummers we have.
The feeders are brought in every night and put out at daybreak and on colder days like today they are refreshed and warmed up several times so they aren't allowed to freeze.

[digger dogger]

We have a couple this winter(third winter)I have one of our feeders wrapped in a water line heater cord.
The buggers perch on it sometimes. The ol'lady, says the nectar is 75% sugar.
Tough little SOB's.

[Bonz]

dont know what my neighbour does but i see them out there all the time. maybe i just cant tell from here their popsicles now

[Big Lew]

We have a couple this winter(third winter)I have one of our feeders wrapped in a water line heater cord.
The buggers perch on it sometimes. The ol'lady, says the nectar is 75% sugar.
Tough little SOB's.

Apparently the mix ratio is 4 water to one sugar....a little stronger if it's really cold.
The commercial stuff sold in stores has red dye in it which is supposed to be bad for them.
Their regular flower nectar is approximately 23%-24% which they need for energy.
They also eat little bugs and flies which supplies their protein (but I haven't figured out
how to catch and feed them those) Anyone know what caliber and powder load would
work best? :lol:

[IronNoggin]

... Anyone know what caliber and powder load would
work best? :lol:

Could give this one a go: http://bugasalt.com/products/yellow-bug-a-salt-2-0

Cheers,
Nog

[Whonnock Boy]

Sounds like there are more than a few birds spending the winter down in the lower mainland. Spotted one about a month ago when the cold snap first hit, and I have to admit, I was a little worried about the little girl. Low and behold, just this morning she came and gave me a fly by. I think she liked the color of my red jacket.

[longwalk]

Still have three hitting my feeder.

[tim3500]

We have Quit a few in the area I live in . I was down at a buddies place yesterday when the sun was out and there was 3 and my place usually holds a couple at the feeder too . We live on the Vedder River in Chilliwack still 6 inches of snow and -10 last night

[Ride Red]

We feed them through the year except winter. Question is, How do you keep your feeders from freezing? Antifreeze?

[Linksman313]

None here till the snow is gone but looking forward to seeing them again, they typically flock in large numbers around a family friends house backing boundary creek, also viewed hummingbird moths there at the same time competing for the sugar water with the wasps.

[Pacemaker]

We've had them here at our place in Campbell River all winter. Still lots of snow, and minus a bunch of degrees at night, but they're still here. I bring the feeders in at night, and put them back out first thing in the morning. I fresh'n up the nectar regularly too. They are nice to look at, I enjoy watching them.

[dracb]

Got them hitting 1:3 sugar water from 9AM to 4:30PM. Bring the syrup in at night, warm it with hot water in the morning. If there is sun during the day, the closed bottle warms up from the sun.

[Stew]

We feed them through the year except winter. Question is, How do you keep your feeders from freezing? Antifreeze?
Super high sugar/water ratio.

[karp2277]

We have been feeding at least ten hummers all winter, trying to rotate 5 feeders every hour because of freezing temps. Just 1/4 cup of sugar to 1 cup of water, bring to a boil let cool and you have visiters every day

[markomoose]

Ya crazy little birds!I has no idea they winter on the south coast till I saw them when we went down at Christmas.

[Bugle M In]

had about 5 or 6 all winter long here in Vancouver

[Surrey Boy]

Isn't it illegal to feed wildlife?

[tigrr]

Guys they become addicted to it if the sugar is too high. Hence they won't migrate away from it!!
Some will abandoned nests/eggs to guard a high sugar feeder. Do some research.

[Sportster]

We get three species at our place in North van, Rofus, b
Black Chin & Anna's.the anna's stay through the winter. Make your nectar sweet, they love it an it won't freeze.

[Frango]

We have been feeding Anna's all winter as well. Someone mentioned being dive bombed by them. I believe that behaviour is from males only and they are trying to impress the female that you don't even know is around. It is not an attack by vicious birds .

[Ronforca]

Saw one in Mission around Christmas.

[kevan]

Isn't it illegal to feed wildlife?

Not when it is helping their survival.

[Ride Red]

We have been feeding at least ten hummers all winter, trying to rotate 5 feeders every hour because of freezing temps. Just 1/4 cup of sugar to 1 cup of water, bring to a boil let cool and you have visiters every day

That's what we mix too, but don't feed them through the winter.

[Bugle M In]

We have been feeding at least ten hummers all winter, trying to rotate 5 feeders every hour because of freezing temps. Just 1/4 cup of sugar to 1 cup of water, bring to a boil let cool and you have visiters every day

And whatever is left over, you can use in making "Mojito's" in the summer!