Hummingbirds El Loco

    I have pretty much always put a feeder out for the hummingbirds, and  look forward to the end of April when the first one comes and looks frantically in the window to let me know they have arrived. The numbers vary year to year but seem to run between 20 and 30 of the buggers at the height of their season, although they are most difficult to count. I'm careful to leave the Lodge doors closed, they sometimes hover in to look, then head for one of the skylights and proceed to buzz themselves out up there against the glass. I forget how many I've had to rescue from up there over the years.
I use a fishing net with an extra long handle taped to it.

The proper name for a group of them is 'charm', not buggers.
You could watch them for hours from the deck hot tub.

They know who is charge of the sugar, and know how to get my attention through the window if the feeder should run dry.

It is not at all unusual for them to go through 3 feeder fulls a day.

Like little flying piranhas, they meet you at the door and start in before you even get a chance to put it back on the peg.

When SkoOk and ChUk were young they were fascinated of course, but soon learned there were easier and more worthwhile meals to be had.

Having a cloud of them around is just normal to me, and I always get a kick out of visitor's reactions, there has been a thousand pictures taken and hours of movie of my 'charming little buggers'.
Usually towards the end of July, or beginning of August one day the numbers suddenly dwindle off.
So far as I know they head back to their Winter home in Mexico.
By then I'm tired of buying sugar and mixing it up and keeping the feeder filled and as good a company as they are, like freeloading relatives, I'm always glad to see them move on.