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#1
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Cat snack AKA Hummingbirds
No, none of mine have eaten one. I just think of them as a snack
because they're so tiny. Very interesting birds. In addition to loving cats, I am a bird watcher. I used to have a hummingbird feeder years ago, but I was put off by the ants they attract. The bees are no problem; hummingbirds predate on bees invading their feeding territory. They crush them in their tiny pointed beaks and drop them to the ground. I put out a new "bee-proof" feeder and within a day the hummers found it. I clean it and change the syrup every few days, so there are many hummers that come visit. The ants discovered it, so I put diamateous earth on the hanger and the deck rails and posts. The ants have departed. I never knew what sound hummers make. Now I know. At least the ruby throated that are common here. I can just imagine what it must be like in Texas or other southern/western states with lots of species of hummingbirds. The first morning I started seeing them I think there was a baby. It was perched on top of the feeder flapping its wings at another that was hovering, just like other baby birds flap and call when mom or dad is near. That one has stuck around (I can tell because it is the only one that perches at the feeder rather than hovers when feeding). This one is a male, and has developed a glorious ruby colored throat, but there is a female that comes often, too. Maybe its mother. When I first put out the feeder, there were others, but they're very territorial, and there were fights and chasing. I just read that they start migrating back to the mountains in Mexico from July through September, so I won't be seeing them for much longer. I've so enjoyed them. The hummers at my house aren't accustomed to people, so I haven't been able to photograph any yet. The ones at my parents house are so used to people that they will hover over your clothes if you're wearing something red or yellow. My dad has sent me fantastic pictures. -- Cheryl |
#2
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Cat snack AKA Hummingbirds
Cheryl wrote in news:Xns9807F0B46E874shads@
130.133.1.4: The ones at my parents house are so used to people that they will hover over your clothes if you're wearing something red or yellow. My dad has sent me fantastic pictures. My dad found a hummingbird under his feeder one day, lying on the sidewalk. He didn't really know what to do, but he picked it up with some idea of nursing it back to health. Apparently, the warmth from his hand was sufficient nursing, because after about five minutes, it flew away. :-) Chak -- English is a brawling, promiscuous drunkard of a language made up of mispronounced and stolen words from other languages, and that's what makes it such a glory to speak. Usage pecksniffs who try to tell you that colorful, unambiguous, expressive turns of phrase or sentence structure are incorrect are the worst kind of bores. --Cory Doctorow, posted to BoingBoing.net |
#3
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Cat snack AKA Hummingbirds
Chakolate wrote:
Cheryl wrote in news:Xns9807F0B46E874shads@ 130.133.1.4: The ones at my parents house are so used to people that they will hover over your clothes if you're wearing something red or yellow. My dad has sent me fantastic pictures. My dad found a hummingbird under his feeder one day, lying on the sidewalk. He didn't really know what to do, but he picked it up with some idea of nursing it back to health. Apparently, the warmth from his hand was sufficient nursing, because after about five minutes, it flew away. :-) Chak If the weather is too chilly, hummingbirds go into a sort of stasis, called 'torper'; they appear to be dead or sleeping until the warmth of hands or a the sun warms them back up again. Then they buzz around being buzzy busy little birds again. Jill ---loves watching birds |
#4
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Cat snack AKA Hummingbirds
Nice post, Cheryl. I keep thinking I should put up a bird feeder
particularly one for hummingbirds. It never occurred to me that the sugar would attract ants, though - that's a concern. But maybe not - the ants I seem to get prefer cat food. Speaking of cats, one of the reasons I'd like to have a bird feeder is to provide entertainment for the restless furries while I'm gone all day. Joyce Cheryl wrote: No, none of mine have eaten one. I just think of them as a snack because they're so tiny. Very interesting birds. In addition to loving cats, I am a bird watcher. I used to have a hummingbird feeder years ago, but I was put off by the ants they attract. The bees are no problem; hummingbirds predate on bees invading their feeding territory. They crush them in their tiny pointed beaks and drop them to the ground. I put out a new "bee-proof" feeder and within a day the hummers found it. I clean it and change the syrup every few days, so there are many hummers that come visit. The ants discovered it, so I put diamateous earth on the hanger and the deck rails and posts. The ants have departed. I never knew what sound hummers make. Now I know. At least the ruby throated that are common here. I can just imagine what it must be like in Texas or other southern/western states with lots of species of hummingbirds. The first morning I started seeing them I think there was a baby. It was perched on top of the feeder flapping its wings at another that was hovering, just like other baby birds flap and call when mom or dad is near. That one has stuck around (I can tell because it is the only one that perches at the feeder rather than hovers when feeding). This one is a male, and has developed a glorious ruby colored throat, but there is a female that comes often, too. Maybe its mother. When I first put out the feeder, there were others, but they're very territorial, and there were fights and chasing. I just read that they start migrating back to the mountains in Mexico from July through September, so I won't be seeing them for much longer. I've so enjoyed them. The hummers at my house aren't accustomed to people, so I haven't been able to photograph any yet. The ones at my parents house are so used to people that they will hover over your clothes if you're wearing something red or yellow. My dad has sent me fantastic pictures. -- Cheryl -- To reply privately, take the X's out of my user ID. |
#5
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Cat snack AKA Hummingbirds
Ooo I have a few hummingbird stories....pardon the length
It was an early spring morning so still a bit chilly, I was 13 and my science teacher was outside and beckoned to a bunch of us standing around. He had something in his hand. He opened it slightly and we saw a small hummingbird, shivering from the cold. He explained some science stuff, i forget exactly what he said, but then he cupped the hummingbird back in his hands and blew warm air into it. he then opened his hands and the hummer perked up and flew away. Then back in 2001, when i was working as a receptionist for a dot.com company, our walkway leading to our front door had a lot of plants and trees. And I noticed this hummer hanging around. I even got a feeder for it. Then one evening as I was leaving, I walked out to the sidewalk and suddenly there was this hummer in my face. I ducked and moved as it flew towards me and suddenly it gave up and returned to a tree by the walkway. I slowly approached and realized it was a SHE and SHE was sitting on a nest. Unfortunately a few days later she abandoned the nest, so I reached up and retrieved and it still had three eggs in it. Awww.... The eggs cracked on the way home, and i think i kept the nest for a while. I wonder where it is..... And then last year, when I was heading out to springboard diving practice from the locker room, my teammate pointed out something on the chain link fence in the locker room. It was a hummer and he was clinging on for dear life. The poor thing must have gotten stuck inside all night. So I gently picked him up and took him outside and put him on the branch of a bush. I was still thinking of him during practice. After practice on the way back into the locker room i noticed that the hummer was still there on the bush. The same teammate who pointed it out to me said it was probably dead. I showered and got changed for class and when i came out i decided to take the hummer to my professor and see if she could do anything. So i put him in my soft farming hat and wrapped that carefully in my towel. I took it to the RVT building and the morning surgery lab was in session (i was in the afternoon lab) I showed it to my classmates and they were quite amazed. My professor was also pleased that i brought it in, and everyone shared the sorrow when I told them how the poor thing had been shut in a locker room with no way out. My professor said it was probably exhausted then gave a quick 5 minute spiel on hummers and hummer care but then shooed the students back to the lab. She found a small box for me and we stuffed it with kleenex. Then she told me to get a 1 cc syringe with no needle, a small amount of water and half a packet of sugar. I got them and closed myself up in my professor's office and held the little guy up to the syringe with sugar water. Hummers have really long, really thin tongues and the trick is to get them to stick their tongue INTO the syringe. After a few tries I got him to drink some. "Aww, you like that? How about a little more?" I gave him a tiny bit more to drink then put him back into the box. The box had no lid so I put my farmhat on top. Then I left. After about 15 minutes or so I went back into the office to check on the hummer. I reached down and put my hand on the hat when something when THUNK. Like something on the inside was trying to get out. I lifted up my hat VERY slowly and saw the hummer sitting on the nest of kleenex. "Hey little guy, you look much better." In saying this I didn't realize that i also removed my hat. Oops.... *cut to hummer flying out of the box and around the office with me trying to catch him with my hat, i'm sure to an outsider it would have been funny* I finally managed to get him when he landed on a hanging mobile and swooped him into my hat. Then I opened the door to the outside and told the little guy to stay away from locker rooms. I took away my hand and he immediately flew up, hovered in front of me for a split second and then flew away. And I went to class with a big smile on my face. Kristi |
#6
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Cat snack AKA Hummingbirds
There's an easy way to make an ant-deterrent.
Cut the top off of a pop plastic bottle (say 20-oz coke, ours was Mountain Dew), remove the screw-on cap and drill a hole in it. Thread the hanger for the hummingbird feeder through the hole, so that the cap is inverted, and the top is near the feeder, opening that *was* screwed onto the pop bottle is up. push the cap all the way down, as close to the feeder as you can. If possible, glue the cap to the top of the feeder (we used a hot clue gun). Screw the bottle's top half back onto the cap, so that it forms a cup. Screw it on tightly, seal with more glue if you want. Fill the "cup" with water, and refill every as it evaporates. You now have an ant-block between the feeder and whatever you hang it from! We had the problem of ants continuously marching up the 'shepherds hook' that our feeder hangs from. When we removed the feeder for cleaning, that thing was *covered* with ants, looking for the free handout. We decided to make this ant-block when we cleaned the feeder, and when we replaced the feeder with ant-blocker, it was only minutes before they had marked the base of the post with a 'no free meal; here scent, and nary an ant even bothers to climb the pole to the hook anymore! I've taken a couple of pictures (was buzzed by a hummer in the process!), and have posted them. Not the most attractive feature, but *very* functional! Pics are he http://community.webshots.com/photo/...47371020PNdsmy and http://community.webshots.com/photo/...47371020bMIJtS Cheryl wrote: No, none of mine have eaten one. I just think of them as a snack because they're so tiny. Very interesting birds. In addition to loving cats, I am a bird watcher. I used to have a hummingbird feeder years ago, but I was put off by the ants they attract. The bees are no problem; hummingbirds predate on bees invading their feeding territory. They crush them in their tiny pointed beaks and drop them to the ground. I put out a new "bee-proof" feeder and within a day the hummers found it. I clean it and change the syrup every few days, so there are many hummers that come visit. The ants discovered it, so I put diamateous earth on the hanger and the deck rails and posts. The ants have departed. I never knew what sound hummers make. Now I know. At least the ruby throated that are common here. I can just imagine what it must be like in Texas or other southern/western states with lots of species of hummingbirds. The first morning I started seeing them I think there was a baby. It was perched on top of the feeder flapping its wings at another that was hovering, just like other baby birds flap and call when mom or dad is near. That one has stuck around (I can tell because it is the only one that perches at the feeder rather than hovers when feeding). This one is a male, and has developed a glorious ruby colored throat, but there is a female that comes often, too. Maybe its mother. When I first put out the feeder, there were others, but they're very territorial, and there were fights and chasing. I just read that they start migrating back to the mountains in Mexico from July through September, so I won't be seeing them for much longer. I've so enjoyed them. The hummers at my house aren't accustomed to people, so I haven't been able to photograph any yet. The ones at my parents house are so used to people that they will hover over your clothes if you're wearing something red or yellow. My dad has sent me fantastic pictures. |
#7
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Cat snack AKA Hummingbirds
On 2006-07-22 02:42:35 -0500, "Mischief" said:
Ooo I have a few hummingbird stories....pardon the length It was an early spring morning so still a bit chilly, I was 13 and my science teacher was outside and beckoned to a bunch of us standing around. He had something in his hand. He opened it slightly and we saw a small hummingbird, shivering from the cold. He explained some science stuff, i forget exactly what he said, but then he cupped the hummingbird back in his hands and blew warm air into it. he then opened his hands and the hummer perked up and flew away. Then back in 2001, when i was working as a receptionist for a dot.com company, our walkway leading to our front door had a lot of plants and trees. And I noticed this hummer hanging around. I even got a feeder for it. Then one evening as I was leaving, I walked out to the sidewalk and suddenly there was this hummer in my face. I ducked and moved as it flew towards me and suddenly it gave up and returned to a tree by the walkway. I slowly approached and realized it was a SHE and SHE was sitting on a nest. Unfortunately a few days later she abandoned the nest, so I reached up and retrieved and it still had three eggs in it. Awww.... The eggs cracked on the way home, and i think i kept the nest for a while. I wonder where it is..... And then last year, when I was heading out to springboard diving practice from the locker room, my teammate pointed out something on the chain link fence in the locker room. It was a hummer and he was clinging on for dear life. The poor thing must have gotten stuck inside all night. So I gently picked him up and took him outside and put him on the branch of a bush. I was still thinking of him during practice. After practice on the way back into the locker room i noticed that the hummer was still there on the bush. The same teammate who pointed it out to me said it was probably dead. I showered and got changed for class and when i came out i decided to take the hummer to my professor and see if she could do anything. So i put him in my soft farming hat and wrapped that carefully in my towel. I took it to the RVT building and the morning surgery lab was in session (i was in the afternoon lab) I showed it to my classmates and they were quite amazed. My professor was also pleased that i brought it in, and everyone shared the sorrow when I told them how the poor thing had been shut in a locker room with no way out. My professor said it was probably exhausted then gave a quick 5 minute spiel on hummers and hummer care but then shooed the students back to the lab. She found a small box for me and we stuffed it with kleenex. Then she told me to get a 1 cc syringe with no needle, a small amount of water and half a packet of sugar. I got them and closed myself up in my professor's office and held the little guy up to the syringe with sugar water. Hummers have really long, really thin tongues and the trick is to get them to stick their tongue INTO the syringe. After a few tries I got him to drink some. "Aww, you like that? How about a little more?" I gave him a tiny bit more to drink then put him back into the box. The box had no lid so I put my farmhat on top. Then I left. After about 15 minutes or so I went back into the office to check on the hummer. I reached down and put my hand on the hat when something when THUNK. Like something on the inside was trying to get out. I lifted up my hat VERY slowly and saw the hummer sitting on the nest of kleenex. "Hey little guy, you look much better." In saying this I didn't realize that i also removed my hat. Oops.... *cut to hummer flying out of the box and around the office with me trying to catch him with my hat, i'm sure to an outsider it would have been funny* I finally managed to get him when he landed on a hanging mobile and swooped him into my hat. Then I opened the door to the outside and told the little guy to stay away from locker rooms. I took away my hand and he immediately flew up, hovered in front of me for a split second and then flew away. And I went to class with a big smile on my face. Kristi Wow! Lots of hummer encounters!! |
#8
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Cat snack AKA Hummingbirds
"jmcquown" wrote in
: If the weather is too chilly, hummingbirds go into a sort of stasis, called 'torper'; they appear to be dead or sleeping until the warmth of hands or a the sun warms them back up again. Then they buzz around being buzzy busy little birds again. That's good to know, I'll tell him. He thought it must have banged its head or something. Chak -- English is a brawling, promiscuous drunkard of a language made up of mispronounced and stolen words from other languages, and that's what makes it such a glory to speak. Usage pecksniffs who try to tell you that colorful, unambiguous, expressive turns of phrase or sentence structure are incorrect are the worst kind of bores. --Cory Doctorow, posted to BoingBoing.net |
#9
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Cat snack AKA Hummingbirds
I have three feeders - one each at a window. I go through about two
gallons of nectar a week. They are located up high (I have to use a ladder to change them) and I have never had an ant problem. My two cats don't pay any attention to the hummers even though they (the hummers) are constantly buzzing around the feeders. Bees have not been a problem either. ---MIKE--- In the White Mountains of New Hampshire (44° 15' N - Elevation 1580') |
#10
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Cat snack AKA Hummingbirds
"---MIKE---" wrote in message ... I have three feeders - one each at a window. I go through about two gallons of nectar a week. They are located up high (I have to use a ladder to change them) and I have never had an ant problem. My two cats don't pay any attention to the hummers even though they (the hummers) are constantly buzzing around the feeders. Bees have not been a problem either. Both of our feeders are up high. Hanging by nylon rope from eye bolts and tied off on the wall with small cleats. So I can lower the to take the feeder down for cleaning and refill, then haul them back up and tie them off. No ant problem here either, unless we get a feeder that leaks and then the ants go crazy with the sticky spots on the ground. Jo |
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