Fewer Rubythroats? Read What Two Researchers Say

Lanny Chambers: Hummers Are Busy Nesting
Rubythroats prefer secluded wetlands for nesting, if available, and proximity to your feeder is not an issue. In fact, females don't like to build nests in a male's feeding territory, and your feeder is probably part of one. Visits to distant feeders take too much time away from the eggs. When the chicks hatch, they need protein to grow, not sugar, so their mother spends most of her time catching small insects and spiders for them.

During this period, I still see a male or two at my feeders, but usually only at dusk. (I'm not a morning person.) I haven't found an explanation for the scarcity of males at feeders in late spring, but I suspect the relative abundance of blooming wildflowers is responsible.

After the chicks fledge (leave the nest), expect the number of hummers at your feeder to be double what it was before the "disappearance."

Bill Hilton Jr.: Hummingbird Shortage, Real or Imagined?
Most years we remind people of two things: 1) There is always an apparent rush of hummers in April that tapers off as some ruby-throats continue northward, as local females spend more time incubating, and local males defend territories rather than visiting feeders; and, 2) The greatest numbers of RTHU occur in August and early September when adults and the current year's fledglings are ALL frequenting our feeders. We encourage folks to be patient in spring, keeping their feeders fresh and waiting until later in the summer.

This year, however, seems to be different, with documented lower numbers than usual — at least here at Hilton Pond Center. (Observers at some other U.S. locales report normal or near-normal spring populations of ruby-throats, but our long-term study reveals some interesting things.)

With only two RTHU banded through 21 May, we can declare with confidence (and disappointment) that 2008 is indeed one of our slowest years on record; to be exact, it is the SECOND worst in our 18 complete field seasons since 1985.

Despite all these stats, we STILL can't explain our especially low numbers of new captures and returns of Hilton Pond Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in 2008. Was it our abnormally cool April and May? Hurricane activity last fall in the Gulf of Mexico? Habitat destruction on wintering grounds in Central America — or in North America? Are hummers feeding on natural food sources right now and ignoring feeders? Is it a one-year blip? Or is it all just part of some natural cycle we don't understand? Whatever the cause we'll have to content ourselves with the advice we always give others at this time of year: Be patient, keep the feeders fresh, and see what unfolds as the season progresses. (It may also help if we continue to study hummers for another 25 years or so.)

Bill Hilton Jr. is Director of Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History in South Carolina. One of the Center's outreach projects is Operation RubyThroat: The Hummingbird Project.