Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2003 14:26:27 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Les Eastman Subject: Re: hummingbird activity In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Jeff Shenot wrote: > The activity level of hummers at our house dramatically increased this > week. For most of June they've been unusually quiet (inactive) and > did not drink much. The same here. June was very slow until last week. Today they are very active with up to a dozen birds seen at one time. > While it may seem logical to drink more when > it's hot, the past several years have not shown any obvious > correlation between high temperature and increased feeding activity. > My observation is that hummingbirds seem to feed MORE when the > temperature is COOL. They aren't drinking it for the water but for the sugar to sustain their high metabolism, so they would need more when the weather is cool. > Normally, we notice the sharp increase in feeder activity attributed > to the later stages of the breeding season in mid- to late July, > especially when young begin fledging, but I don't think we are there > yet. I definitely had at least one immature male today and I think there are more immatures. With the constant movement, it is hard to confirm an immature female. Les =========== Les Eastman mailto:les@birdtreks.com Havre de Grace, MD Visit the Harford Bird Club Web Page at http://www.harfordbirdclub.org ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================