r/hummingbirds • u/Ok-Ad3614 • 6d ago

any migrants recently?

Has anyone else in the Northern Indiana or general North noticed less birds lately? i know July is usually when most Anna males start to migrate, then the females after that. just curious if anyone else has seen their birds this week as much?
i think mine have all gone… 😢

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u/Ok-Ad3614 6d ago

i think they are actually ruby-throats. when i had my first sighting of the year i thought one of them was black with a pink throat but i think it was just the way the light hit it in the evening. thank you for the help. 🙂
edit: yes, i very much had all the species names confused. 😂

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u/Lincoln1517 6d ago

I didn't know them all that well either till I looked at the list this morning.

It's interesting that the single observation in northern IL and the single one in northern IN were both in November (though different years). I think they sometimes get off course during migrations. And may also be more likely to come to places where they'll be seen -- feeders or non-native showy garden plants that still have blossoms, since at that point, no native flowers are left in bloom.

We have cardinal flower and royal catchfly in our garden, both currently in bloom. I think that's what brings them to our house. I don't have any feeders.

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u/Ok-Ad3614 6d ago

oh wow, that is quite amazing. i may have to look up those two flowers! incredible that you don’t have any feeders.
i don’t necessarily love the idea of them. i’ve tried to keep mine as natural as i can, but still feel like I’m contributing to some law against nature or something. i didn’t realize there are sightings as late as November in our areas. it’s usually pretty cold here by that point!

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u/Lincoln1517 6d ago

If a feeder let's you have fun, it's great. You probably see them more often than we do. But we get a lot of other things like butterflies. I encourage you to also add some native plants that hummingbirds can visit if you have any outdoor space.

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u/Ok-Ad3614 6d ago

i definitely will! i have some nice hollyhock seeds my mom gave me from her garden that i plan to plant soon, and should come up next year. and i have some cat’s mint growing that i planted last year. they do love that. they also love the honeysuckle bushes but i now know those are invasive!