Rufous Hummingbird feeding frenzy

[awesomeaheo]

Cute

[tjhall1000]

what kinda liquid are you using? whats your mix? i would like to know so my humming birds can have this liquid drugs u have here since they love it so much

[alpinecone]

@tjhall1000 I use 1:3 ratio sugar to water. Since I make so much at a time I use a gallon milk jug. 6 cups boiling water, 4 cups sugar, stir to dissolve, 6 cups cold water, stir, fill feeders with a funnel. Keep unused mix in the fridge. I use it for tea too. I wash my feeders with hot water and bleach. For mold I use a bent bottle brush to scrub it off the inside of the glass. I use a smaller bent brush to clean the base. I got my brushes from Harbour Freight in a multipak really cheap. :-)

[tjhall1000]

@alpinecone that makes me wonder if its healthy for them lol, like flowers im sure gives yummy vitamins they need to live...so if they only feed off the sugar water... wouldnt they be losing important vitamins in there diet? idk im not a bird person so i wouldnt know lol

[alpinecone]

@tjhall1000 They eat lots of bugs and pollen from flowers and trees too. That is why the feeders get so dirty. I have to scrub the bug guts off of the drinking ports. They always have dead bugs clinging to their beaks. Sometimes they are so covered in pollen that they looked like they rolled in it. They leave lots on the feeders too. That is why there are tubular flowers. In the spring we have snow until June and they eat bugs and pollen from the willows and vine maple.

[AzathothianBrew]

That's the same hummingbird feeder I bought today! 

[cheatahgal001]

Hungry Hungry Hummingbirds!

[sikkinyx58]

awe little hummers

[jenny48961]

wow thaiy must have a lot of birds thaire

[KymsPink59Cadi]

Wow what a cool video, I've never had so many hummers at one feeder, what a great specticle..thanks for your video... You have so many great shots! Kym

[ragnar13131]

could do with some of them in my garden

[LittleDisaster19]

amazing

[liliokilani]

Absolutely amazing!! That is so cool! The copper ones are just as beautiful as the greens. I ave never sen anything so coo before! WOW!

[captainpoolie1]

Fabulous! I have a fraction of this in San Diego, but I love them!

[1dockthorwho23]

I see snow I did not think Humming birds would sick around that long.

[rrbond07]

I have to make sure I have more feeders out next year. I had a number of them this year and love watching them feed.

[2ndamen]

Negative post? How could any SANE person have anything to say negative about hummingbirds? I guess it is the anonymity of the net. In florida there are mostly just ruby throats. We are glad to get those! Over seas they have none. Be thankful for what we have! The way you can inter act with them;) . I put flowers on my hat and take pictures of them. My wife saw me the first time and just laughed and laughed. Two days later she was out there with me, hehehehe.

[casagrandecats]

think you need a couple more

[pariapsara]

you have plenty of entertainment-can watch these birds all day

[Birdsie39]

For most of the video it looked like a young fledge was sitting near the front and not feeding much. It got in some good sips, though. You must live near a migration route--that's the only time I have seen this many hummers at a feeder. You are doing them a real service--thank you--I love the "humming" sound they are making. This is a terrific video!

[Birdsie39]

What a wonderful video--for a while it looked like a young one was sitting near the front and not feeding much--maybe a newly fledged one. You must live near a migration route for these birds--you are doing them a real service--thank you!

[086Laura]

Wow! Popular spot! I wish I could get a few more hummingbirds at my house, I live in Seattle and just recently put a feeder out. I get a couple but can't imagine anything like this. Congrats! Whatever you're putting out must be good!

[DementedDiva]

This is a great video!

[cygnophile]

Where was this filmed, I see snow on the ground, did the hummers stay through the winter, or is this in an area where snow is rare? 2 years ago I had a hummer remain until the end of November and we already had snow, suprised he stayed so long.

[alpinecone]

@cygnophile This was in the middle of May in the Washington Cascades. The snow sticks around Nov 1 and the last piles in the shade usually melt in mid June. We live in a breeding ground for Rufous with the occasional Calliope, Anna's and Black Chinned flying through. The Males show up in late March to early April with the females following and by mid August most of them have left. The latest one I had was in mid September. Thanks for watching.

[maha0921]

@alpinecone Do you have more than one feeder?!?! If you don't it seems like you should! Goodness me.... how incredible... we have two feeders here near Atlanta, and they fight over them, never allowing more than one hummie at a time. My husband would "die and go to heaven" if we were in a breeding area!! Enjoy them all for us:)

[wanderingintheabyss]

@wanderingintheabyss

It looks like I can't post the link, but I can say it's from

'Feeding Hummingbirds Without Harming Them'

by Judy Hoy

[noelmckeehan]

I just posted a video I shot of some rufous on Lopez Island. If I had seen yours first I wouldn't have bothered.

[nmotz06]

Yes, removing the bee guards would reduce congestion some. Scientific research has still proven that nectar is the hummingbirds primary source of food with insects being a supplement to their dietary protein needs.

So, I would agree with you that hummingbirds are insectivores , but only in the sense that they need them to supplement a specific portion of their diet, per scientific research.

Flower nectar concentrations do vary but are generally in the vicinity of 4:1.

[Airborn14]

I have the same feeder. cool :D

[luvscats69]

Wow!!! That's alot of humming birds!

[alpinecone]

This was one of 5 feeders I had out at the time and they were all this busy at dusk. we have two extra holes drilled between each of the bee guards and feed 3:1. I have 8 feeders this year and within two miles of us there are at least 72 feeders that I know of. We are smack in the middle of a major breeding ground here at Snoqualmie Pass. On 5/13/09 with three banders they banded 253 birds with the oldest recapture 6 years old. They come up at least 3 times a season to band here.

[hummingbirdgrammy]

@alpinecone Seems like you've done a great job. The feeder and the uncolored sugar water look clean. You are using the ratio of water to sugar that is the standard mentioned in hummingbird information. And you are maintaining 5 feeders with the one in the video being a 30 oz feeder that had been filled twice that day. Sounds pretty good to me!

[alpinecone]

@hummingbirdgrammy Thank you! I used to love this video but now I don't even want to look at it any more. Even after I stopped responding the arguing continues without me. I love hummingbirds and what I didn't say is that this is their absolute favorite location on the house. There are up to 8 feeders on all sides, depending on the demand. They will be fighting over spots to feed on this one and the one around the corner will have one or two birds at it.

[alpinecone]

@alpinecone I just found out I can magage my comments and delete them and block a certain person. Thanks for commenting otherwise I would have not found that out and would have kept avoiding my own video. Now that the negative energy has gone in the trash I feel better. Thanks to all of you who came to my defense.

[hummingbirdgrammy]

@alpinecone So glad that you did look at your video again and saw my post. You needed to know that it's obvious that what you are providing for the hummingbirds is positive and good. Now that the "bad apple" posts are gone please enjoy your video and the hummingbirds.

[jewwithafro]

cool

[mangod77]

what time of year is this and what location

[chihuahuabulldog]

That was so neat how they were sharing. Two were on one perch taking turns drinking! Soooo cool! Thank you for sharing!

[stoneagearcher]

Ha ha awesome! Im down here in Renton and have been getting the Rufous feeding at my feeder for the past few weeks!

[hankwheels]

I love hummingbirds!!! I want to move to South America so I can have more at my feeders, hehe.

[odlaw18]

Great video. You might enjoy the videos I have of feeding them by my mouth. I could feel the soft feathers. Thanks again for the great video.

[MemoryOfAxel]

I wish they'd relocate to Ireland, I've never seen one in real life before ;). They look so graceful and I didn't know they could actually hover in midair like that without moving, I read it in books before but I thought it was a figure of speech. You must be really lucky to have so many 'round at once!

[3lmtdotcom]

WOW!!!!!!!! You are so lucky!

[alpinecone]

I am lucky! At peak season I was going through over a gallon of "juice" a day with 8 30 ounce feeders out. The Roufous have all gone south but I do have one juvenile male Annas that is still hanging out as of Oct 3.

[kansasa1]

They are amazing! We too have quite a few up in BC right now :)