Bill,

Awesome note and graphic!! Sincere thanks for these!
It’s hard for me to tell a difference in color for the lines of 2016 and 2018… Is it safe to assume that 2018 is the highest line on your graph? That would certainly match what we’re seeing at our feeders this year. and BTW, our numbers are rapidly declining, just over the last couple of days. But I don’t mind having fewer feeders to wash and refill… 😉

Reminds me of a lady in Sonoita AZ who fed a LOT of hummingbirds (40+ years ago), and I must quote her: “The best two days of the year are when the first hummingbird arrives in spring and when the last one leaves in fall!”

Larry

—– Original Message —–

From: “Bill Moore hootowlbill@gmail.com [ible]”
To: “lcarrigan 55”
Cc: “IBLE”
Sent: Friday, August 24, 2018 8:18:35 AM
Subject: [IBLE] Hummer Thoughts [1 Attachment]

[ Attachment(s) from Bill Moore included below]

I continue to entertain all four species, but mostly females and juveniles. There are a few males, but not many. Of course there’s no missing the the rufous males. Fields are dry, but the watered flower beds are hit by them

I’m down to four feeders and the rates have dropped off a little. Past experience was they quit over the next few weeks.

I’d say be careful trying to count hummers by feeder sightings. We had a bander come up a couple years ago and he banded 60-70 in a little over an hour with only one repeat; all others came only once. The speedy fellows look alike. I think a better way to guess population is feeder depletion since basically only hummers and hornets hit my feeders.

I’m not sure how migration works up here. I don’t see a spike in solution depletion, but rather a fairly steady rate; maybe some leave, some new ones show up and the current hatches swap somewhat evenly.

I copied my feeder curves from last few years. We didn’t start keeping data til mid year in 2015. Sorry size is so big, but it was not easy for me to do it. You can see steady rates and totals of 4 cup feeders emptied.. Gotta go fill a feeder as I’m being scolded through the front window.

Bill Moore
Hoot Owl
Inkom

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