Cougar Ridge Ranch is the summer breeding ground for 4 species of hummingbirds.
Typically we have hundreds if not thousands of birds through the summer.
We usually have to fill our 8 – 80oz feeders & 13 smaller feeders every day with 4-5 gallons of sugar water.
Yes we typically go through 15-20 25lb bags of white sugar every summer just feeding hummingbirds.
UPDATE: We just launched our LIVE CAM view of our hummingbird feeders so you can watch them like we do. It goes live at dawn and stops at dusk during the hummingbird season from April when the males arrive to the first part of September when they migrate south. NOTE: The camera sees much better than the human eye so before dawn and after dusk it still looks like its light, but it isn’t.
Find the live feed on our YouTube Channel
http://YouTube.com/CougarRidgeRanch
This year in late may the hummingbirds were here in record numbers, they were like a hive of bees swarming the feeders but then we had 5 nights that fell below 20°F & all of a sudden, after the 2nd night we began to notice fewer and fewer birds. We found little dead hummingbirds all over the ground under trees (see photo) & after the 5th night we only had as many as 10 birds feeding.
All of our neighbors for miles around noticed the drop off in bird numbers too.
It was such a loss that we took down all but 3 of our big feeders.
As the summer goes on, about the first to middle of July & August we should see the numbers increase as the baby birds fledge & leave the nests.
About Mid August we will also see the population explode as the hummingbirds from much farther north begin arriving, already on their migration. They’ll hang out & sip the swagga and rest up for their next leg south. Usually about Labor Day 99% of the hummingbirds will leave & start their migration south.
It’s an all at once event & it happens just after dawn.
If you’re lucky enough to see it, it looks like a cloud of tiny birds leaving.
There are stragglers that stay behind, some even until mid October, usually females with late hatches and small chicks.
We seldom see any males after the mass exodus & then the area around the feeders is calm & pleasant with no males fighting.
Just females and juveniles.
We’ve had them hang around until the temps are getting close to freezing at night & then POOF! They’re gone all at once too.
They head south to Arizona, California and Mexico for the winter & the males will arrive again in April and the females will arrive in May.