Surprise visitor

[Mimsy01]

I had a sweet surprise this morning. It's really cold here and I always keep seed and suet out for the birds. I was coming in from the car to bring in groceries and fluttering around my face was a hummingbird~! I was so surprised, I had no idea they were even around in such cold weather. I felt terrible guilty and had to go dig out the feeder and filled it. The little thing has been back several times today~!

Managed to get a pic. It's not the best, but she's still a cutie.

 

[ToMang07]

Man.... I hope it finds it's way south soon. Mine has been packed up for a month already.

 

[MikeyTN]

All the ones around here left for the south already....I need to go pack up the feeder myself cause it's still sitting outside, if we get a snow or ice storm, that feeder would be done. We've lost some pretty feeders in the past and forgot about them. Of course they shattered....ugh....

 

[Mimsy01]

I did a little research and it seems it's a female Anna's Hummingbird. Apparently they are a fairly hardy hummingbird and in recent years have not been moving south for the winter. They believe it's due to people feeding them, they just decided to hang out in cold. I guess I'm gonna have to get creative on keeping the feeder from freezing.

 

[Allee]

What a cute little visitor! I'm glad you saw her, sounds like she was hungry.

 

[RavensGryf]

What a cute surprise! I love seeing hummingbirds. When I do, it always makes me smile. I hope they do stay around for you year round.

Several years ago where I lived in Southern California, we had a tangerine tree. We saw a tiny little mom in a tiny little nest, and it was the most adorable thing. We looked at the eggs daily until they hatched. We had to pull the branch down a little to see inside the nest when mom was away, and be careful to put the branch back in place and not let go and 'fling' it lol. We watched the chicks until mom could no longer fit with them in the nest (she started sleeping outside the nest on a nearby branch), then the chicks fledged one day and were gone. It was fun to be able to witness that! I forgot what the species was called. Don't remember if it was Anna's? It was a larger hummingbird species with green backs.

 

[Aquila]

Maybe an outdoor rated chicken coop light on it to keep it from freezing? The infrared kind. Not sure what they look like for price, but I'm sure the hummingbird will enjoy it too!

 

[2BadBadger]

In the UK we don't have any wild hummingbirds at all which is a shame as they are beautiful to watch.

We do have many other great birds but would love to see some hummers buzzing around...come on global warming!!!

 

[Mimsy01]

I had no idea they didn't live in Europe. Interesting, you got me reading on their history now.

Aquila, thats a good idea, I also saw someone wrap xmas lights around one too. Oh and those handwarmers things..people duck tape em to the feeder. LOL I guess I'll have to figure it. Or I could get another one and just swap em.

 

[ToMang07]

Interesting, I didn't know that either.

We have a TON of Ruby Throated hummingbirds, they are ALWAYS fighting over the feeder/flowers, lol

We had an extreme thunder storm a couple years ago, and next thing I know there was roughly 30 (yes, thirty) hummingbirds at the feeder..... the sound was....creepy....like a slow-motion helicopter of a huge swarm of super bees....which is what it looked like! I used to have a video of it, but it disappeared from youtube somehow.

 

[Taw5106]

What a nice surprise! Years ago, a hummingbird flew into my garage when the door was open. While the door was still open, this hummingbird flitted around but couldn't figure out how to get out of the garage. His issue? He wouldn't fly low enough to go under the wide open door, which was seven feet high when open. I was finally able to put water out and the bird drank, then using a broom, directed him to go low enough to go out of the garage door. He kept flying higher. No swinging of the broom was done, perfectly safe. He was so beautiful and after that I kept a full feeder for the hummingbirds. They are amazing, you think they are not around and tada! The show up. Gorgeous creatures. You got some great pics too.

 

[plumsmum2005]

In the UK we don't have any wild hummingbirds at all which is a shame as they are beautiful to watch.

We do have many other great birds but would love to see some hummers buzzing around...come on global warming!!!

Yes they do look super cute but re come on global warming - how many native or migratory species would we lose? Positives and negatives!