I'll start off the new thread with my white whale, male Ruby-Throateds, and how sun affects the red coloring. It took me 6 years of enticing hummers to my yard to even see a male, but it was worth it. The last one shows how black their throats look without the sun hitting it the right way.

Nice photos! What is he drinking from there?

That's Cuphea Vermillionaire. I plant it every spring in containers because it's definitely one of their favorites, and it stays blooming even into their fall migration.

Hopefully our more southern members with regular hummingbird visits will post more photos, I really miss watching them daily here.

Good ones Nancy! I had a similar experience with the black-chinned. Didn't even know they had purple throats until last summer because I rarely see males and when I do, their throats look black.
Caught a single rushed, unfocused photo last June, nothing as nice as yours.

Too bad we can't get close enough to use a flash, maybe that would always give the right light to show off the purple and red throats. But the majority of my photos are taken 25'-30' away to not spook them.

I should add that was the only day last year that I was able to capture the red throat in spite of now having males visit daily.

I checked my photo info — so now I know date, time and angle of the shot that caught the purple. Maybe I'll make a note on the calendar to try to replicate the conditions this year.... and hope a male hummer shows up! Ha.

The feeders have been busy this week. Weather is warmer than usual. However a cold front is headed in and snow is just around the bend.

I'm so envious you have them around for so much of the year, Bea. Cute photo of just how far they can shove in their bills.

Spring is in the air East of the Mississippi, no new photos? This is the second year in my new house and is the first year I'm planting hummingbird friendly flowers so hopefully later this Spring I'll get some pics to post!

I've got about another 2 months before hummers make it to me, maybe a bit sooner if the warm weather keeps up through spring.

I think our hummingbirds will show up around mid April here if I remember right. We had a pretty long (for me) stretch of nights below zero over winter and I'm hoping my Black and Blue will return. I've a had it for several years and my patch was growing but it would prefer a warmer winter.

I remember hummers showing up first week of March. We'll I've had a feeder out since last weekend, but haven't had anything show up yet! Now today is the seventh of March.

Okay. Changed the nectar this morning, still hadn't seen any hummers. Just looked outside. One hummer is on the feeder! Yay!

Hopefully they'll stay around for you now!

I put up a feeder a week ago because DH said he saw one visiting every flower on an Azalea. Within a couple hours, the war had started so I put one on the other side of the house too. I know they can't see from one feeder to the other but I wonder if they hear each other. And this reminds me, I haven't changed the nectar yet today even though I made it while making coffee. Time to do that.

Maybe this year will the one when I get a good pic. LOL!

Hi folks,
Thanks to Murky, I see on the map, someone has sighted hummers in my state already, which surprised me.
Also surprised and pleased that my native honeysuckle is leafing out fast and has a few open blooms. I like to let flowers fed my hummers in summer and fall, but this early, I may try again with me feeding them.

Early on, the hummingbirds are especially needy if there's not a lot blooming. They can lose a bit of weight migrating, then need more quick nectar, then comes mating and nesting needs for females. Have seen a male around lately on the Mexican Buckeye blooms and feeder, no females yet. Soon, I hope.

Visited my favorite independent garden center- they said everyone's asking for hummingbird feeders and they were picked over until another order arrives Thursday.

I make sure I have several salvias bought as early as possible that are already flowering for the early arrivals. It's also how I finally got males to stay all summer, which brings the females as well to stick around. I check the migration maps and if I see there are sightings in the area before I have any plants bought, I'll put a feeder for awhile so they have food.

No hummer will go hungry with all of the azaleas blooming around here at this time but they are still interested in the feeders.