I like to quote William Blake. Here's one from the beginning of his most famous work, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (where he has this carved on a cliff!):I have not had the activity that I had last year. I keep 2 feeders filled and they will last a couple of days. These feeders also have a limited number of uses. After about a year they start to leak and need replaced. Fine with me. Filling them twice a day got to be a bit much.
Story time. After I posed this I could not see the video move on my phone. I thought there was an issue with Imgur so I changed the posts from hidden to public. One has been viewed more than 7,000 times. The thing is, I have no idea where. I also got 15 upvotes and 3 down votes. Why the down votes? Someone have something against hummingbirds?
That is pretty interesting. Not exactly how I feel about helping a species to morph, but I figure I am just feeding the birds in my little area.Neat little article about how hummingbird feeders in CA possibly expanded hummingbird range and morphology.
seed feeders in the UK may have caused great tits to grow longer beaks relative to those in the Netherlands.
Everyone loves great tits.That is pretty interesting. Not exactly how I feel about helping a species to morph, but I figure I am just feeding the birds in my little area.
Of course the 15 year old in me noticed this sentence. (bolding is mine)
My favorite and most expensive feeder has been leaking. https://hummersheateddelight.com/heated-feeders/32-oz-heated-hummingbird-feeder.html I like that it's heated so I can feed all winter, but not at the cost of the juice leaking out on the ground.My window feeder looks bone dry and haven't seen a bird near it for a couple weeks. I guess it's just leaking, a Kingsyard. Bad design, the seal is just rubber in a groove. So, I went a-shoppin' on Amazon and Ebay looked at a lot of stuff, settled on this:
Kingsyard 2 Pack Window Hummingbird Feeders w/ Ant Moat, Strong Suction Cups - 8 Oz Leak Proof & 5 Bee Proof Feeding Ports $22.99
By and large excellent reviews. Neat stuff:
Looks like it can't leak
A real moat to keep ants out
The moat + nectar tray lift out easily for maintenance
People say the suction cups are real good, mostly
con: Says holds 8oz but one reviewer said more like 6oz.
This kind of design doesn't allow nectar to be stored in a cylinder, so when the nectar gets too low the birds won't reach the nectar.
Got the 2 pack so I can prepare a feeder and swap with the old one any time of day. Last year I cleaned etc. the window feeder and saw a little one settle on the perch and get real frustrated because it couldn't find its juice!
With the smaller feeders I have, I have to refill at least once per week. The Rufous are back and drive off the Anna's whenever they can.Well, they are back. 3 feeders are lasting about 1 day now.
One Costco that we go to is in a snooty town and they do not have 25 pound bags of sugar. There is another one that has the 25 pound bags, but unfortunately they might be switching out to 50 pound bags of sugar. I mean I will go through it, but I don't have a real good way to dispense the sugar from the 50 pound bags. Maybe this should go in First World Problems.
Those all red ones should attract them super. My favorites are these cheap-ass ones I bought off Walmart, I have 3 of them. They don't leak and the HBs like them. Easy to clean, for me more than adequate capacity. Don't come with ant protection, so I made my own featuring hanging hook:My favorite and most expensive feeder has been leaking. https://hummersheateddelight.com/heated-feeders/32-oz-heated-hummingbird-feeder.html I like that it's heated so I can feed all winter, but not at the cost of the juice leaking out on the ground.
Kind of a poor design, so I bought a pair of these:
Only 16 oz., so I have to refill them more often.
With the smaller feeders I have, I have to refill at least once per week. The Rufous are back and drive off the Anna's whenever they can.