Birds.

John Bryan johnbryan@worldnet.att.net
Mon, 22 Aug 2005 09:12:59 PDT
Dear Jim:

Thanks for your e-mail. We have several different species of Humming
Birds here, all so lovely and they are apparently not afraid of humans,
or my dog either. 

I have not seen any go after Lilies, despite having various trumpets in
my garden, and despite the flowers having good nectar glands, I do not
know why this is, could it be too sweet for them? My 'Lucifer' are young
plants, a few minor spikes, but they were planted this year and not that
many flowers, so perhaps that is why they are ignored. Cheers, John E.
Bryan

Jim McKenney wrote:
> 
> The replies posted so-far are interesting, if only because it seems that the
> west-coast hummers are either much pickier than those here on the east coast
> - or maybe it's that they have so much more to pick from on the west coast.
> 
> The hummer we have here is the ruby-throated hummingbird. They arrive in
> late April, just when the native Aquilegia canadensis starts to bloom. There
> are hummers in the area until well into October, although these late season
> birds may be birds migrating through from farther north. In the same way,
> the first ones to arrive in April may really be the ones headed for Canada.
> 
> On rare occasions (but almost every year) rufous hummingbirds are reported
> form somewhere on the east coast. These are evidently birds which became
> disoriented during migration.
> 
> The ruby throat seems to check out everything in the garden. I'm surprised
> that no one has mentioned how much attention hummers pay to lilies,
> especially trumpet lilies. Crocosmia 'Lucifer' is also a favorite. So too
> glads, Tigridia, Gloriosa, Zephyranthes, Habranthus, Polianthes - really,
> they seem to check out just about anything in bloom.
> 
> Forget what you may have read about hummers going mainly to red flowers.
> >From what I can see, flower color makes no difference.
> 
> Jim McKenney
> Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where although we have
> hummers every year from sometime in April till sometime in October, we never
> seem to have more than one or two at a time.
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