Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2001 10:00:51 -0500
From: Lanny Chambers <lanny@HUMMINGBIRDS.NET>
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast
<HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
To: HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Hummingbird feeders out 'til when?

On 9/21/01 9:29, Stan, St. Paul, MN [44.444N, -93.106W]
stan1bb@FRONTIERNET.NET wrote:

>If I recall
>correctly, "authorities" (whoever that might be) suggest
>leaving nectar feeders up until early October; and that
>having feeders out does NOT deter their migration South. Is
>this the current thinking? Or am I doing her a disservice
>by detaining her with available nectar?

A hummingbird migrates when the length of daylight shortens to match its
internal trigger value, and when it's stored enough fat for a cushion against the unknown availability of food during its journey. Each bird's
exact departure date may be a little different and will vary with
latitude, but chances are any birds you're seeing now are migrating,
passing through from farther north. In other words, you're seeing
different birds, not the same ones every day, and you can't prevent their
migration because they're already enroute south. Your summer birds are
long gone, so if you were planning on detaining them you're too late. :-)

Leave your feeders up for a couple of weeks after seeing your last
visitor, because any late stragglers will be the birds who'll need the
feeders most.

Lanny Chambers
St. Louis, USA

================================================

Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2001 12:36:57 -0600
From: Lanny Chambers <lanny@HUMMINGBIRDS.NET>
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast
<HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
To: HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Lingering questions about lingering hummers

On 11/8/01 11:50, allen chartier amazilia1@HOME.COM wrote:

>I am being asked more frequently these days about whether keeping a
>hummingbird feeder up causes them to linger until a cold spell arrives,
>and possibly kills them.

Here's what I tell folks about Ruby-throats:

1. Each bird has its own internal schedule. Some adult males start
migrating in early July, and by September most of the birds seen at
feeders are just passing through, the summer residents being long gone.
Today's birds may not be the same individuals seen yesterday. They
certainly aren't lingering at feeders, but moving steadily southward. The

instinct to migrate seems to be much stronger than hunger.

2. The last birds to leave are immatures from the latest nests. They
can't migrate until they're strong enough and fat enough to endure the
long journey with its uncertain availability of food. Some of these
hummers won't survive--that's how evolution ensures most females will
nest early enough to leave plenty of time for their chicks to
develop--but by providing feeders we help improve their chances. In my
experience, most of these late hatchers never come to feeders anyway,
feeding exclusively at flowers.

3. Any adult Ruby-throat that lingers at a feeder is probably very old or
sick. It probably won't survive anyway, but a feeder may offer it the
chance to recover in time to migrate successfully.

4. If a hummer appears in the east after mid-October, it may not be a
Ruby-throat at all, but a Rufous or other western-breeding species. A
relatively-small percentage of these birds winters in the southeast every year, and some pass through the midwest or northeast enroute. They
generally move on by late December, to winter along the Gulf coast.

Lanny Chambers
St. Louis, USA

=========================================

Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2001 12:44:46 -0600
From: Mark Klym <Mark.Klym@TPWD.STATE.TX.US>
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast
<HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
To: HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Lingering questions about lingering hummers

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On 11/8/01 11:50, allen chartier amazilia1@HOME.COM wrote:

>I am being asked more frequently these days about whether keeping a
>hummingbird feeder up causes them to linger until a cold spell arrives,
>and possibly kills them.

My response to that same question caught a woman off guard at a program last night, but ift drove the point home. I ask people to think back to
September (when the first big push of RTHU comes through Austin and when we usually get our first "cold front" (if you can call dropping into the 60s at night cold!) I ask them to remember how many birds they had at their feeders the night before the cold front. Then I ask them how many they saw the morning after the cold front (always the number has dropped
significantly)

I then ask if they had their feeder up that night. I ask how come those
birds did not stay since you had a good source of food?

Message delivered!

Mark Klym
Bastrop Texas.