Fewer Rubythroats? Researchers Say They're Busy!

Lanny Chambers
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."    Meet Lanny Chambers

Nancy Newfield
[This question] comes up in one form or another about this time every year. Here in the far South, our ruby-throated females are on second nests and farther north, they are incubating or feeding young. At this time (mid to late May, June), feeders visits might be few because the females need to stay on the nests and they need more insects (high protein food) than at other times. The males will be defending nectar-based territories near female nesting areas.    Meet Nancy Newfield

Bill Hilton Jr.
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 ruby-throats 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.    Meet Bill Hilton, Jr.