For the Birds: Missing Hummingbirds -- Really?

Anna's female sipping nectar by Doug Parrott

By Christine Southwick

Have your Anna’s Hummingbirds all of a sudden gone missing? Are you afraid that something has happened to them? You are not alone—several people have asked me this question just this week.

Feeding the nestlings by Dennis Paulson

What you are probably noticing is the lack of females drinking the nectar. Right now, many of our local female Anna’s are on nests, and starting to feed their nestlings. One of the reasons that Anna’s can survive here year-round is because the Anna’s Hummingbird eat more bugs (think tiny) daily, than any other North American hummingbird. Female Anna’s only feed their nestlings regurgitated bugs by sticking their long bill down the throats of their young (It’s really quite a frightful sight the first time you see the mother feeding her nestlings.) While they are feeding their young they are also eating enough bugs for themselves.

Male Anna's by Jon Timmer

Another part of the picture is that a female on a nest, when she does want some nectar, will usually start using the closest nectar feeder, instead of visiting all the neighborhood feeders as both the males and females do the rest of the year. I have one feeder back near tall evergreens that every year about this time goes down faster than any other time of the year. That also means that my other feeder goes down much more slowly—so slowly, in fact, that I sometimes think the feeder isn’t being used. Then, almost at dark, I will see a handsome male gulping down nectar until the feeder burps an air bubble. Maybe the reason it is so hard to notice the males drinking nectar is that the males tend to dart in, often staying on the wing, whereas the females will usually perch while drinking thus making their stops longer.

Female Anna's on nest by Doug Parrott

Hummingbird nests are quite amazing. By using strands from spider webs, the female is able to build a petite nest small enough to snugly hold the one to two eggs, and that expands to hold two full-sized nestlings. That’s quite an engineering feat. She will twine plant fibers, feathers, and small leaves into her cup-shaped nest. She often camouflages the outside with lichens and mosses, making the nest hard to find.

So those of you worried about your hummers vanishing, relax. The females will be back soon, along with the juveniles who haven’t a clue about how to use a feeder.