Not many hummingbirds and no honey bees.

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Not many hummingbirds and no honey bees.

Posted: 7/10/2021 5:59:53 AM EDT

My hummingbird feeders usually have a swarm of both hummingbirds and honey bees. This year we have only seen 4 hummingbirds and zero honey bees.

Has anyone else noticed this?

Posted: 7/10/2021 8:01:13 AM EDT

[#1]

We have 5 bird feeders out and filled every day. Very few birds of any type. We had two families of Red-Belly Woodpeckers in year-round residence, but haven't seen any of them in the past two months.

We don't use any pesticides, so it's not that. But for some reason the birds seem to have disappeared.

We used to buy a 40-pound bag of Black Oil Sunflower seed every week. This year we're buying a bag every 3 weeks or so.

Posted: 7/10/2021 8:46:22 AM EDT

[#2]

Well there is a revelant thread to this currently above ??

Posted: 7/10/2021 10:18:50 AM EDT

[#3]

Same same here in Glosta…strange though, we had a fleet of blackbirds this late spring, eating up my expensive TSC bird food….cardinals and bluebirds hardly stood a chance. Now blackbirds have moved on, but like OP noted, hummingbirds are rare this year, unlike previous years.

Posted: 7/10/2021 10:48:45 AM EDT

[#4]

Funny this came up. My wife and I were just talking about the fact that we have seen very few hummingbirds this year. We normally have lots of them buzzing about at our three feeders. This year I think we have seen maybe four or five this whole summer. We do have more blue birds than I have ever seen before. We have blue birds all over the place.

Posted: 7/12/2021 4:50:57 PM EDT

[#5]

I just started a hummingbird feeder this year. zilch. did not even see one. gave up.

However, my other feeders(non-hummingbird) seems to be fine.

Posted: 7/12/2021 5:51:54 PM EDT

[#6]

Back around Christmas my farm was over run by crows. The sky was dark from them.

Along comes February and we didn't seen a crow all day.

Posted: 7/12/2021 6:20:35 PM EDT

[#7]

There is no shortage of birds on my "regular" feeders. I also feed the crows on weekends and there is at least one murder of crows that hang around.

Posted: 7/12/2021 7:24:56 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
My hummingbird feeders usually have a swarm of both hummingbirds and honey bees. This year we have only seen 4 hummingbirds and zero honey bees.

Has anyone else noticed this?

View Quote

Same for me about the birds, however, the honey bees are about normal on our flowering plants around the house.

Posted: 7/12/2021 8:17:24 PM EDT

[#9]

I dont feel like the hummingbirds get here in numbers until late July early August. That is my observation from having a hummingbird feeder for the last 3 years at 2 different house in Central VA. May just take that time for them to find my feeder. Just put it out last week.

Posted: 7/13/2021 7:08:55 AM EDT

[#10]

I believe you see more in July August is because the babies start leaving the nest then. Typically I'll have 3 or 4 fighting for the feeder, this year only one that I have seen.

Posted: 7/13/2021 7:14:25 AM EDT

[#11]

I have seen numerous articles stressing the importance of keeping hummingbird feeders clean this year. Maybe they have taken a hit from the bacteria/fungus that grows in dirty feeders.

As for bees I still see quite a few on the clover in my yard so they are around. Honey bees and bumble bees mostly. My neighbors behind me have a hive box but I never see anything coming or going so it must be dead. Too bad, I like honey bees I would gladly trade them for the zillions of ants in and around my house.

Posted: 7/14/2021 11:03:53 AM EDT

[#12]

There is some disease going around this year killing the birds. I haven't been following any of it but have heard people in my area saying to take down your bird feeders to help stop the spread of the disease.

As far as honeybees go, I've got two hives that are doing great and other beekeepers in the area are reporting the same. Every area is different though.

Posted: 7/14/2021 4:08:33 PM EDT

[#13]

Quote History

Quoted:
There is some disease going around this year killing the birds. I haven't been following any of it but have heard people in my area saying to take down your bird feeders to help stop the spread of the disease.

As far as honeybees go, I've got two hives that are doing great and other beekeepers in the area are reporting the same. Every area is different though.

View Quote

The bird mortality is being a bit hyped. You have more people at home and observing more and waaay more people karening about viruses now. It's metro people barking about annual occurrences and within normal death rates. The bees vary widely for a number of reasons, but there are trends showing the suburbs are worst bc of rampant chemicals.

Posted: 7/15/2021 3:01:11 PM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:
My hummingbird feeders usually have a swarm of both hummingbirds and honey bees. This year we have only seen 4 hummingbirds and zero honey bees.

Has anyone else noticed this?

View Quote

The hot weather has played havoc with plenty of things.

My 'Rose of Sharon' is blooming like crazy.
West edge of the Town of Culpeper.

That is usually an 'end of August' type plant.

Posted: 7/27/2021 1:19:15 PM EDT

[#15]

My Rose of Sharon has been flowering since the start of July.

In previous years it never started before the third week of August.

Posted: 7/27/2021 7:47:41 PM EDT

[#16]

We have one hummingbird that hangs out on the regular, no feeder just flowers out front, lots of bees in my AO no so many lightning bugs. Central va here

Posted: 7/27/2021 8:20:36 PM EDT

[#17]

I've seen a bunch of hummingbirds daily. Don't know if they are the same few coming through but I see 8-10 hummingbirds in the evening. Couldn't say about bees. We had a bunch of honeybees in the spring but haven't seen any lately. Our flowers have died out

Posted: 7/27/2021 10:00:18 PM EDT

[#18]

My two humming bird feeders are busy from sun up to sun down.

Posted: 7/28/2021 4:42:35 AM EDT

[#19]

I am still only seeing 4 total and not often. Last year it was closer to 40 at a time and all day. I was going thru 64 oz. of nectar every two days. Now I am having to dump the feeders and refill them with fresh mix because of the lack of activity and hummingbirds.

I have yet to see a honey bee.

Posted: 7/28/2021 7:20:25 AM EDT

[#20]

We sometimes see 5 or 6 fighting over the feeder closest to the house (hangs in front of a living room window and drives the cats wild). We have 3 more hanging farther out from the house and I have no idea how many hummingbirds are using those.

Just had a pair of cardinals sitting on the rail of the porch (had the cats attention, too) before they flew off somewhere.

We're not seeing the wood thrushes in the yard like we have in past years but my wife wanted the forsynthias and other bushes cut down last year so those "woods" birds may be staying out back along the tree line.

Seeing the bumble bees and wasps around here and there. The grapes will be getting ripe here in another week to two weeks and then we'll see about the yellow jackets, wasps, hornets, etc.

Honey bees? Rarely seen them for many years now. Not seeing as many yellow jackets as we used to see (but running over a yellow jacket nest in the ground while on a slow moving mower is no fun anyway.)

Posted: 8/22/2021 7:31:37 AM EDT

[#21]

The hummingbirds are a rare sight now and the bluejays, which we had a lot of, completely disappeared in early June.

Posted: 8/22/2021 9:33:11 AM EDT

[#22]

Quote History

Quoted:
The hummingbirds are a rare sight now and the bluejays, which we had a lot of, completely disappeared in early June.

View Quote

Probably more relevant in your specific area. More than past years at mine. The chemical application that suburbanites are big fans of really does work against the birds and bees.....it's true no matter how biased and hard headed we are.

Posted: 8/22/2021 8:42:15 PM EDT

[#23]

Quite a few hummingbirds in my wife's feeder.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Not many hummingbirds and no honey bees.

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