WESTERN HUMMINGBIRDS VOL. 10

Donna, welcome back. It sounds like you had a great time.

This little girl continues to arrive just as the sun comes up every morning.

This guy looked like he was ready to attack.

This one looked sweet just sitting and watching the other birds.

This guy has been in the blooms a lot judging from all the pollen.

The attack!

One more for today.

What pleasure to watch these jewels! Great pics. Duc.

Gorgeous pics duc!! Good catch on the attack. I love the sweet one watching things and the guy who had been in the blooms!

Wonderful shots Duc....so clear and detailed, such a pleasure to view!

Duc, great photos. Loved them. Donna

Bright and sunny here-finally!

Ahhh, sun!

I love the pretty colors.

Looking for pollen and bugs in the hollyhocks.

This message was edited Jun 15, 2010 7:25 AM

One more today.

Excellent shots duc!! They are gorgeous. So glad your having sunshine!

I liked this one.

Meanwhile back at the bath....

I liked this one too...

We were sitting on the deck when this one decided to take a bath next to us.

Oh wow, Duc, I love them all. Beautiful birds and garden setting.

Fabulous shots, they are such good subjects with flowers. Love your last bath shot.

Great shots duc! Love the last one!

Female Rufous hummingbird.

Male Rufous.

Great job Adel!! Glad you've got a pair of them. All of my Rufus have been gone for some time now and I just love their color.

There are still two pair of Rufous here and a couple of Anna's.

Good ones adel!

Glad to hear you have two pair Adel.

I'm still practicing with these Anna's.

These plants sure attract the hummers.

Wonderful pics! Sadly tis the time and I have taken down my feeder as the spring migration is through. One thing I've noticed this spring was that sometimes one or two of the stations are blocked when I change the nectar. I use a Qtip to clean out the little tubes and they work fine after that but why would that happen? Is the sugar not quite dissolved in the nectar? Or since this is the first year I've had it in full sun, would the heat make a difference?

Can you show us your feeders Dahlia?

I just have this one Pell. The tubes that lead to the 'flowers' at the bottom were blocking.

I don't think I've ever had one with tubes before. Is there a more semi shaded area where you could try to put them to see if it would make a difference?

It was at the corner of the garden shed in semi-shade but the native squirrels started doing 'spiderman' down the wall of the shed to the bird bath right below it so I moved it. Looks like the city squirrels have chase the natives away though :( I think I will keep it where it is and just Qtip the tubes when I change the nectar cuz this year was the first time ever that I saw a hummer in the spring ^_^ I just wondered why it was clogging up.

Hi Dahlia, I have my feeders in the full hot sun and once in a while the pollen from the hummers bills will stick to the tubes. I always clean my feeders twice a day and more when we get into the higher temps. I use a very small brush to clean the feeder ports and maybe this will help you. I see you have the bee guards on there and mine always collected more gnats and tiny bugs which may be your problem.

Here's a couple links for cleaning equipment that might help you:

http://www.amazon.com/Brushtech-B122C-Hummingbird-Feeder-Cleaning/dp/B000PSFI04

http://www.petsolutions.com/Hummingbird-Feeder-Cleaning-Brushes+I21980130+C40001668.aspx

Thanks everso duc! I'm going get one of those little brushes from the Wild Bird Store. Much better than a Qtip as I think the Qtip might leave lint residue.

Just caught this guy yesterday as he was defending his feeder.

Aww, that is a sweet pic duc!

Ha. He's even giving you the eye, Duc.