Couple seasons ago I was walking a potted up butterfly bush to it's new location in my flower gardens and a hummingbird was non too concerned about the fact that I was moving as it proceeded to take it's fill from the blooming flowers as I walked it across the yard.

Had a very busy hummer season about 3, maybe 4 years ago at my place. One day we had at least 20 hummers darting all over the place between our two feeders. The air battles they wage are quite epic. I've never had one run into me yet, though I've had a couple land on me for a quick moment or two before zipping away again.

Very much looking forward to their returns later this year.

Pic from 2015

Love that story, Rob!

Earlier today when I dared to remove their feeder to wash and refill it, such a scene as the Hummer flew all around that area where it hangs, checking every single hanging thing on the patio just totally miffed that its food had been removed. I love these guys, they are a scream. I felt like I should have issued an apology for the stress I caused.

They do let us know when the feeder is empty. They will get right in my face to let me know I'm slacking.

They sure do, Carol!

It is 6:30 in the evening here and I have 6 hummingbirds feeding at once. The weather is not severe no storms so this is really unusual for my little ones!

I heard one today! I didn't see it. But I heard that familiar ... how would you even describe that sound they make?
All feeders washed and drying, feeder liquid cooling off in the freezer. Last year I would tell people that you couldn't go outside without getting a hummer stuck in your hair or almost getting impaled by the tiny creature. A bit embellished but not far from the truth.
... I think I might need to buy more feeders this year. O.O'

Shasha...

Shasha

Woo Hoo Sasha! Hummers in Florida is a good thing! They'll soon be coming our way.

How does one avoid attracting the yellow jackets? For the past two years they have covered the feeders up and run the hummingbirds away. They would devour the liquid and try crawling in the openings, plugging them up.

I have fed hummingbirds here for 30 years and never seen it this bad. I would like to keep them coming back to this area. @Wildflowers is correct. The generations of offspring return to their birthplace so I have quite a lot of hummingbirds but am dreading the yellow jackets.

I've heard that yellow attracts bees and wasps. Maybe avoid feeders with yellow flowers. Opt for white instead or just plain red. You could also paint over any yellow with non-toxic red paint. Just what I've heard, never had a problem with them so I couldn't say for sure.

Thanks, I had heard that too and removed the yellow flowers at the ports. I guess they had already discovered the buffet.

Kristi, I have Dr JB feeders and no problems with the wasps because of the design they can't reach the syrup. http://drjbs.com/

Thank you for the link.... I will have to look into trying one of them.

Last year (some of you may recall) I had a problem early in the season with honey bees swarmed all over the hummingbird feeders.

I had to get new feeders that the bees could not access. I ordered some on line but then discovered that WalMart has several feeders that are bee and ant resistant! I do like the Humzingers that I ordered on line but they don't hold much nectar so I prefer the ones that hold more. The yellow is definitely attractive to bees. Bees do not see red but hummingbirds are attracted to it.

Once I put up the feeders that the bees could not access, they would just look it over and then leave. Since the bees seemed to be very hungry, I did end up putting a feeder out just for the bees, in another area. It ended up working out fine.

Here's some pictures from the event ---

Honey bees swarming the hummingbird feeder


This feeder did have the yellow flowers. Don't get this kind!!


Here's one of the Humzingers I ordered. No more bees!!


This is one of the bee-proof feeders from WalMart. Notice how the feeding holes protrude far enough to where the bees cannot access the nectar.


After a couple of tries at setting up a feeding station for the bees. This is what I ended up with. It worked pretty well. I fed the bees for a short while, until they had flowers to browse, then I took it down. I set it up like this with a bowl of water to serve as a moat to keep the ants away.

Thank you Christine, that gives me a good idea of what to (or not to) look for in new feeders.

I fed the yellow jackets in the same manner as your last photos in hopes of keeping them away from the feeders but no such luck. I was amazed at how quickly they could drain the shallow yellow bowl I used for bait.

Yellow jackets are a rarity here. We have lots of bumble bees and probably some mason bees that I can't positively identify. Neither are aggressive.

Lucky you, Mac! Yellow Jackets are aggressive!

I haven't noticed Yellow Jackets at the feeders but occasionally wasps will try. I often see Yellow Jackets along with bees at the compost pile. I think they're mostly after the moisture but not sure? I was surprised the first time I saw Yellow Jackets on carrion. But, they are meat eaters too!!

Pod, when you're looking for hummingbird feeders, some of the tags will tell you they're bee resistant. Sometimes the feeding holes protrude from the inside, with the same result, the bees cannot reach the nectar. I'll have to look again but I think that's how the Hummzingers work.

Another good thing about the Hummzingers is they have a built in ant moat. As long as you keep the moat filled with water, the ants stay away!! Since I had to fill the feeders every day, it wasn't a problem. If you don't have to fill the feeder daily, you might need to make sure there's water in the moat since it evaporates pretty fast during our hot summers!

Wow Christine! Just, Wow!

You can also buy an ant moat for the JB feeder.