Keeping my two hummingbird feeders full takes more time this year than ever before. Very few flowers are out--none in our yard, with the exception of iris, which aren't a favorite of theirs, so they have no nectar. The picture of the feeder on the right (which was taken through a screen and is not very clear) was filled 10 hours earlier. The whole jar lasts about 24 hours. Can you imagine those tiny little things drinking a whole quart of food a day?!
We have so many hummingbirds here on the island. Most are Rufus and hang around until the end of June, and then all of a sudden, it seems they disappear. Right about now is nesting time and the males are very aggressive and try to keep other birds away when they're feeding. In ordinary times one bird can rule the whole feeder, but they seem to be so desperate now there are usually 4--one on each feeding trough. My other feeder is a different kind--one that is not nearly as popular, but I can't figure out why. The holes for feeding are different, so maybe that's it, but even this feeder will usually have 4 birds feeding at once, which is very unusual.
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