2017 in Review
Hummingbirds get so used to me filling the feeders that they dive right in even as I’m hanging the feeders.
This summer male black chinned hummingbirds started showing up the last week in March. The temperatures were very cold. We were coming out of a very hard winter with record snowfall.
By mid May, we had thousands of hummingbirds. We had ALL of our feeders out and were filling them (over 3 gallons) every other day.
Then it happened…
The Rodent Epidemic Hit
We began seeing an epidemic of rodents. Mice, Chipmunks, Tree Squirrels and Ground Squirrels.
They were everywhere, in everything.
The Rodents were eating EVERYTHING!
We had to replant our garden over 3 times as the rodents were digging up the seeds and eating plants we planted from our greenhouse as within a day of their planting. We’d arrive at the garden to find everything but the Garlic and Onions eaten to the ground, and there were even nibbling on the onions.
Hummingbird Decline
At the same time we began noticing a fast decline in the numbers of hummingbirds. Within just a few weeks we were only seeing 100 or less at the feeders. We couldn’t figure out what had happened.
We knew that our ranch is a stopping / resting point for migrating birds who go farther north but we don’t normally see 90% of the birds leave… We figured something else was happening… then I saw it…
Chipmunks and Squirrels eating Hummingbirds
One day in late May I looked up in a tree that the dogs were barking at and saw a chipmunk eating something and it looked like feathers falling from its meal. I caught some falling feathers and they were those of a hummingbird.
I even found hummingbird feather piles in a corner of the shop where chipmunks were taking their catch to eat.
It appears that the huge decline in hummingbirds was a direct correlation to the rodent epidemic.
TRAPPING and getting rid of the RODENTS
In our area one of the department natural resources officers told us that this year is an epidemic year for rodents. Wow! We could have told him that!
We don’t like to put out poison because of the other animals so we put out traps to cut down on the rodent problems in our garden and it was working.
First we started with rat traps (chipmunks are too big for mouse traps) and we couldn’t empty them fast enough. Bait them with ALMOND butter as they are not a big fan of Peanut Butter. We could empty a rat trap and walk away and come back in 5 minutes and have another in the trap. Many times we didn’t get more than 20 feet away and the trap would snap. There were so many, you could see them running around on the ground and in the trees where ever you looked. My neighbors and I even resorted to shooting them with .22 rifles and my kill rate was better about 9 rodents for every 10 shots, but I wasn’t putting a dent in the population and it was eating up my time and bullets. Rodents were just running all around me. I’ve never seen so many rodents. I could spend all day shooting and they just kept coming. The Ravens love to eat the dead one’s but there were so many they couldn’t keep up and the smell of death was lingering all over the ranch. The dogs got tired of chasing, killing and even eating them and just gave up. We were finding them in everything. They would even get on the roof of the house and crawl down the vent pipes. A Chipmunk built a nest inside of our stove exhaust fan. We had to remove the entire unit and clean it out. We also went to the roof and put 1/4″ hardware cloth (industrial screen) over each vent.
WATER TRAPS
I put out 10 water traps and this was finally the equalizer.
A water trap is a 5 gallon bucket with about 5″ of water in the bottom. I also like to put a handful of sunflower seeds on the top of the water. Lay a stick from the ground to the top of the bucket and the rodents will go up the stick out of curiosity to see what’s up there. They can also smell the water and it was a very hot and dry summer so that was enticing to them too. They see the water and believe that they can jump in and then jump out. They don’t know that the water is deeper than they can reach the bottom and they can’t get out. Plus they see their friends swimming (floating) and just have to get in with them.
You simply use a small garden rake to get them out into another bucket and go bury them to keep the smell of death at bay.
From the first week in May we began catching chipmunks and mice in the buckets. The bucket record was 47 chipmunks and 29 mice in one day and that was early on in May. The average daily burial was about 50 rodents. We have continued to catch them up to this writing Aug 16, 2017 although we’re only catching 10-15 a day now.
JIM BRIDGER or DUKE traps (FUR TRAPPING BODY TYPE TRAPS)
For the large ground squirrels we had to employ our winter trapping sets. These squirrels bodies are the size of a man’s size 10 shoe so these are not small and the damage they do is tremendous. They can chew through walls and get into buildings. They dig under almost any structure and weaken the foundation, no to mention the fodder they haul back for nesting. These rodents are super pack rats, power diggers and chew anything, even through plastic garbage cans.
A LITTLE COME BACK
After getting the rodent population semi under control we began to notice more and more hummingbirds. After Mid June, the first hatch fledged and the numbers climbed a little. Now in middle of August we’re seeing the northern birds coming back as they start their migration and the numbers are getting high again. We haven’t had to put out all of our feeders because they’re numbers are not as strong. Never the less, we’re back to feeding 1.5 gallons of nectar a day and our feeding stations sound like our bee hives but that is far from the usual 3.5 to 4 gallons a day we usually feed this time of year.
GONE FOR THE WINTER
On August 24th (a Thursday) about 5pm I watched 99% of the hummingbirds simultaneously come out of the trees and in unison hover about 20 feet above our courtyard. There was quite a chatter and then they all darted over the trees in a South to South South East direction. That was it. Almost all of them were gone. Those left behind are females and their newly fledgling young who are still not strong enough to head south. Over the next few days we’ll see a few coming in from the north but they’ll only stop for a quick drink and they’re gone south over the trees.
Someone asked me if they leave when the feeders are empty. The answer is no. The feeders are usually very full when they leave. They don’t leave because of nectar availability, they leave by the length of the day.
We’ve noticed over the years that as the days shorten, they arrive at the feeders in the morning at the dimmest and dark first light. Its still very twilight and long before the sun will rise. This is in contrast to long summer mornings when they begin showing up well after twilight and almost sunrise (we think they sleep in just a little).
During the long summer days they are on the feeders until about 9:45 at night and arrive back at about 5:30.
Now as the days are shorter, they are off the feeders at dark which is about 8:15pm. I think they just get too hungry as the days shorten and so they leave for Piña colada’s in Mexico.
Happy Trails little hummers. Until next April.
Que le vaya bien
HORNETS
After the hummingbirds left, we began having a serious problem with yellow jacket hornets. They were everywhere, in everything. Anyone with a hamburger or soda pop was not safe as they came in great numbers. They were so bad they actually revenged and in just a couple of weeks, killed our hives and were stripping them hives of bees and honey. We’ll have to buy new packages in the spring to replace the colonies and I’ve got to figure out how to less the hornet population.