I bought a humminbird feeder the other day, complete with the nectar. I have it under the porch awning to protect it from the rain and direct sunlight, but I haven’t seen a single hummingbird yet.
Is there a better place to hang it? Is it too early for hummingbirds? I know they’re small and all, but I figured I would have noticed at least one by now.
Birds can take a while to find a feeder. I have several feeders, and if I let them go empty for a while it can sometimes take several days for the birds to “find” them again after I fill them. So give it a few days - if you have hummingbirds in your area, chances are they’ll find the feeder eventually. If they don’t, move it around - they may like another spot better than where you’ve hung it.
Here in Indiana, it is probably too early for hummingbirds. My mother has feeders, and never counts on them before June. After that, the little blighters show up. They are creatures of habit, so if a feeder they’re used to using gets empty, they get very very angry. They twitter when they’re angry. They’re also territorial–my mother’s two feeders have three hummingbirds that dive-bomb each other all day, in the summers.
note to self-
get hummingbird feeder for new apartment after we get moved.
Ooh, hummingbirds!!!
According to this:
http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/cwp/view.asp?a=494@&q=153884
hummingbirds should be arriving in your state soon. Make sure you have some flowers nearby your feeder that they like - that’s what they are naturally attracted to, and they’ll find those before they find the feeder.
OK, awesome thread title. Gosh!
My friend Cindy uses a regular sugar and water combo (I’ll ask her how much if you want to know) and she has these crack addict like hummers all over her porch constantly. I don’t think they’ve arrived yet this year, though (we’re in NC).
Your climes are a tad cooler than mine Casey1505 and I’m planning to put my feeder out ~May1. The first year, I used the red dye juice that comes with the feeder, but since then have made a simple sugar/water solution, and the little zippers find it in no time at all. If you’d like to enjoy watching them, feeders can be located quite close to the house-mine hangs from the rain gutter outside the kitchen window. They become used to the presence and will feed even if I’m washing dishes. 
Obligatory link to the website that shows first sightings, by location, of ruby throated hummingbirds in eastern North America in the spring:
http://www.hummingbirds.net/map.html
Keep in mind these are first sightings. There might be quite a lag between the pioneers shown here and the rest of the population. IIRC males migrate north before females.
See that blank area in northeastern Pennsylvania, amongst all the other early April sightings? My house is almost dead center of that. 
Must get hummingbird feeder. . .
I know how you feel, Casey1505. I bought a regular bird feeder a few weeks ago and hung it outside my bedroom window. I was disappointed that it wasn’t covered in birds by the time I get inside the house from hanging it up :smack: .
Lately though, they seem to be finding the feeder. Slowly but surely. Just be patient.
How far south do these little guys go in the winter? Seems like a long flight from Florida to Northern Maine for such a wee little bird.
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I’ve never seen one around my house, but I’ve never set up a feeder. They apparently are due in my area in the next few weeks.
-Butler
They can go all the way to parts of Mexico and even central America! I know there are places in Arizona and New Mexico that are popular for winter hummingbird watching, too.
See this article.
Amazing, isn’t it?
We’re doing the hummingbird thing too this year, for the first time.
Proper mixture is 1 part (cup) sugar to 4 parts (cups) water. Best to boil the water, then add the sugar to dissolve it. Store the extra nectar in bottle in the fridge.
I was talking with a local who has great luck with hummingbirds. She said that even though some have been sighted in the area, it may take a couple of weeks longer to get them to start in on your feeder. There are ‘scouts’ apparently (although they really don’t report back to the main herd of birds) and also they spend the first week or two building nests. Just be patient. And don’t use food coloring.
And if you get a parade of ants climbing up your porch steps, over the deck, up the support, across the eves, and down the little red hanger wire to pilfer sugarwater, you can put some veggy oil on the wire, and/or replace the wire with fishing line
We have some very cool native birds here but I am sooooooo jealous of your hummingbirds. I would love to see one some day.
Your hummingbirds are too busy chatting online with babes.
My neighbor has a bottle brush plant. That thing is a hummingbird saloon! They are drinking and fighting and drinking and chirping…Last year I saw about 25 different birds squabbling over that bush.
Today, 9:25 am Eastern US time, we got our first hummingbird! Now we’re hoping he tells his friends and we get a few more!
I am SO happy!
Here are a few hummingbird pictures I took a couple of years ago at Stoner Creek in Colorado. There’s a little restaurant there that caters to hummingbirds, with monster-sized feeders that hold gallons of sugar water.
The most amazing thing about your pictures is the SHARING going on there- our birds would never, ever share anything!