Yeah, I'm familiar with that noise. The father of a guy I knew back in high school raised them on their farm.

One weekend the parents left down and we were having a "quiet gathering" there and Sandy decided to call up a guy that raised fighting cocks and asked him to bring one over. Mercifully it was all over pretty quickly as the poor peacocks didn't stand a chance.

I forget how he explained to his dad what had happened.

 

We've had beautiful weather in SC (temps in high 70s and low 80s), so we went over to Brookgreen Gardens two days in a row and spent HOURS enjoying the gorgeous floral displays. There were literally millions of beautiful butterflies and we saw dozens of hummers trying to fatten up for their migration. Wondering if you're seeing hummers, Raymo. I was surprised to see so many still here. I thought they'd be well on their way south of here by now.

 

Yeah we've still got quite a few but probably only for another week or two. The feeders are only getting filled about 1/3 full now and they last 3 or 4 days. I'm still trying to get a picture of the big male. His gorget is all red now and he's as agressive as ever.

 

Sounds lovely, Val!

I think I stay a stray hummer yesterday. I haven't bothered to fill the feeders as it has been about 3 weeks since I saw one, but darned if I didn't see one in and out of the flowers....of course I wasn't wearing my glasses at the time, so I can't be sure....

 

Lainey, there are several species of moths that can be mistaken for hummingbirds if you don't look close. I watched a "hummingbird" for about 5 minutes once before I noticed that it had 4 wings and antennae.

 

I've seen one of those in the past....they are usually smaller than the hummer, but as I said I didn't have my glasses on, and I was looking through a window.

 

I was enjoying watching hummers here yesterday. There were four eating at once and then the bully showed up. I do have fewer than I did a month ago but they're still here.

 

My wife has a picture somewhere of one of these "hummingbirds".

we had quite the debate over it until I found a reference to those little guys online somewhere.

 

Those moths are the adult version of the tomato hornworm caterpillars that eat my tomato plants.

 

The local hummingbirds hate me now. I have a tree that's being strangled by a morning glory. This weekend I started the morning glory eradication project. The poor hummingbirds kept hovering around the tree looking for their missing flowers.