alt Hacker NewsI love hummingbirds. Before I got a hummingbird feeder they seemed like an ultra exotic sort of bird I could only see very rarely for a brief instant, but now with a feeder I can see them several times a day. Sometimes they even watch me back through the window. Remarkably aware for such tiny animals.
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I have a feeder right outside my home office window, next to where my desk is. I see them all day and it makes me happy.
I actually put up one-way/reflective film on the window to block some harsh light that was being reflected straight into my face and it had the great side effect that the hummingbirds can't see me watching them. So now I can get right up to the window and watch them hang out.
We had a feeder just outside our floor-to-ceiling windows. Whenever the feeder ran out the Anna's hummingbirds would hover a couple inches from the glass, staring in at us like little bird mafiosos, demanding their due...
Yeah, that's definitely a perk of living in the US / Americas. Hummingbirds were one of the most often mentioned birds in the pop-science books I read as a kid because of how unique and interesting they are, but since I grew up in Asia, they stayed "exotic" to me until I moved to the US and started seeing them regularly.
> I love hummingbirds.
Same here! We see them practically every day where I live - no feeder necessary, just flowers in bloom, preferably red[dish] ones.
Hummingbirds would be my favorite birds of all, except for the existence of owls. We have many owls in our neighborhood, including two that nest nearby. We know that mostly from hearing, since they do their best to stay hidden during daylight. However, they are pleasantly loud at night. That's why we know there are two of them or rather two nests--it's easy to pick up the direction of the sound.
If you take up birding, especially going out with experienced birders with their scary good senses, you'll find all sorts of rare birds actually aren't that rare.
I see RTHUs in the wild quite often during the summer here in upstate NY.
I've found that hummingbirds are surprisingly not very picky and are quite persistent. Check out what sort of things are native to your area though because you may be able to attract a lot more than hummingbirds.
I'm in the Bay Area and in terms of native flora the hummingbirds like the monkey flower (both red and orange), California fuchsia, and Pacific bleeding hearts I've got planted. They also go for the Christmas cactus and fuchsia (neither of which are native but both of which are currently in full bloom). As an added bonus the carpenter and bumble bees both frequent all of the above (as well as the California poppies).
This summer I woke up early and stepped outside in some bright tie-dye. I had a hummingbird approach me within about 4 feet and check out my shirt, obviously trying to decide if I was just a really weird flower or something. It was really incredible to interact with such an interesting bird (even though I'm sure he was annoyed that I wasn't in fact a giant flower).
Nice documentary about hummingbirds: https://youtu.be/vGMJZSfVW1M?si=m-LmIO9vgt7l-nV4