Hummingbird Question

[Tbone]

I put my feeders out April 1 when it was still cold and had 6 birds feeding at one time. Since it's warmed up over the last few weeks I only see one at a time. Why would they disappear once the weather warmed?

[Squiggyfreud]

we have none at the moment, my wife's mother in Alexandria has dozens. The group you had may have just been stopping off on the way to their final migration point. By the end of this month, spring migration is pretty much over.

[shadow]

I have had one at my house the last couple of days. Last year, I had dozens! Great question. I figured the rest of mine just haven't come out of hiding yet.

[Fish on Line]

With all the honeysuckle the food is everywhere now

[Tracker123]

I have a few still here, having to re-fill the feeders regular.

[Tbone]

Thanks. The honeysuckles makes the most sense to me.

[Mrs Tracker123]

I was thinking migration too. We seem to get different varieties in waves. We've had ruby throats earlier and now I'm seeing more of the green ones.

[Tbone]

Don't the ruby throats stay here year around? That's mostly what we see, so that's why I was leaning towards the honeysuckles. There's a lot of that stuff around here.

[Tracker123]

Can't figure them out Tbone. Seems we get the ruby throats early, then the green ones stay year around. Doesn't make since, but they're welcome here as we provide for them.

[Duck Butter]

All hummingbirds here are neotropic migrants, meaning they breed here but winter in the neotropics (Central and S. America). Some do overwinter here and people have been leaving their feeders up in the winter and getting some other 'western' species such as black-chinneds, broad-billed, and a few others. There is a lady that bands them in south La. Hummingbirds' are insectivores, they primarily feed on insects so the nectar they are getting is basically fuel for them to fly around and eat insects. But like said above, hummingbirds are likely nesting right now so they are not going too far from their nests and nectar is easy to come by now from wild plants like honeysuckle, irises, etc.

My grandmother used to tell us that the hummingbirds would ride on the backs of geese when they migrated but I learned that the hummers were gone way before the geese got here haha.


Many of the birds we see in the summer are neotropic migrants - buntings, orioles, most our warblers, vireos, etc. They all make a non-stop flight over the Gulf of Mexico which is very impressive. They leave at dusk from Yucatan Peninsula preferably with a south wind and fly with the tailwind across the gulf. Sometimes they get here and there is a front coming through with hard north winds. Not all the birds make it across but some will get to land and literally hit the land and tumble they are so exhausted. These are the 'fallouts' and birdwatchers flock to the coast especially Grand Isle when a big front pushes through in the spring as it grounds the migrants. Grand Isle is a birdwatchers paradise

sorry for the long post haha