The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Alexander Graham Bell’s finest achievement can, at times, be a royal pain in the you-know-what. When it rings at dinnertime I usually answer, “I’m eating supper, what are you doing…?”

The best calls, however — aside from the ones from my kids with news of my grandchildren’s achievements — are callers asking wildlife questions, such as: “How are the hummingbirds doing…?”

There is a way to touch bases with hummingbird happenings locally: OBOL (Oregon Birders on Line). Not as “scientific” as one would like; however, local birders have their finger on the pulse of general information about local birds, so I asked…

Here’s what I received from Craig and Marilyn Miller — along with an excellent recipe for hummingbird food:

“Hi Jim: We have had hummingbirds everyday for about the past two months:

Rufous hummingbirds: three or four a day; calliope: occasionally; Anna’s: quite a few times; black-chinned: a lot…

We have a hummingbird feeder in front of our living room sliding glass door, one hanging from the roof on Craig’s deck, two near a bird bath, and one under our birch trees, near willows. We use a one cup of sugar to four cups of water mixture, and boil it to make sure it is dissolved, then cool it and put it in the feeders… (Please note Marilyn DOES NOT USE FOOD-COLORING. YOU SHOULDN’T EITHER!)”

And this quick note from Jim Moodie:

“On September 1, we had a female Costa’s hummingbird take over one of our hummer feeders, on the 5th, the Costa’s was still there and continues as of two this afternoon.”

Kevin Smith, a talented nature photographer in the Crooked River Ranch area had this to say:

“Well, now… My numbers are UP… We have for the first time this year recorded black-chinned, Calliope and rufous hummers coming to our feeders. The black-chinned came thru early and hasn’t been seen since. The Calliope came thru just after the black-chinned and has returned. The rufous came, nested, fledged one juvenile and have left (it usually stays well into October). The black-chinned is still here. Hope this helps.”

Patty Van Vlack in Prineville was also kind to respond:

“We had fewer hummingbirds in our area this year. Anna’s, black chinned, and rufous were seen. I started seeing them earlier this year but they did not stay. We ended up with a pair of Anna’s the middle of July and they just left three days ago. Usually I have two pair for the summer.

My neighbors have also been telling me that they did not get the numbers that they usually do this year. This area usually has four to six black-chinned as summer residents but this summer we only had them pass through in June. Everyone always has a pair of rufous hummingbirds but no one did this year in this area. In July one rufous came to the feeder but two days later it was gone. Hope that this information helps…”

I found this comment the most interesting: “If Jim’s going to touch on birds in the burns (fire areas), it was also very notable that the number of lazuli buntings was extremely high in the burns this year…”

I’d say that the reason we’re not seeing hummingbirds at our feeders is they have so much natural food in the form of wildflowers — thanks to the exceptionally wet spring — they don’t need us.

Enjoy what you have, but please remember, hummingbirds do not do well on feeders alone when the flowers are gone. Take your feeders in as soon as frost hits and bid our feathered jewels farewell until next year.