If you have been feeding hummingbirds for many seasons, you probably feel that hummingbirds can recognize you. The findings of research conducted by scientists at the University of California, Davis, seem to suggest that this may be true.
FEMALE RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD; PHOTO CREDIT: Terry W Johnson
This summer I thought one particular humming bird could recognize me.
She looked at me through the screen, hovering for several seconds. She did this on several occasions. I just thought I was imagining it- wanting her to recognize me.
Thank you!
I too have some that will come up to me maybe a couple feet away and just look at me for a few seconds. Especially if I have taken down the feeder to clean or refill it. I sit in my chair a few feet away from the feeder and a few have no problem with me. Even when I’m moving around. One of them follows me around the yard. So I’m pretty sure they know who I am! 💝
Thank you for sharing your experience. It sounds like a hummingbird did indeed recognize you. They are truly amazing birds!
Terry
We live in extreme Northeast Louisiana. Recently we had a solid white, maybe albino, Ruby Throat at our feeders. How rare is this occurrence. Archie
Albinos have pink eyes. I seen a few posts that have leucistic ruby throats
Thanks for your input. Only about 1 in 33,000 birds is an albino. I have seen a few for them and they are always special.
Our birds will hover inches from our face as if they are looking at us.
Cool. I’m still seeing at least three or four.
Just got into feeding hummingbirds when to my astonisment I had one fly to the feeder while I was still holding it and began resting and sipping the sweet water. Just yesterday I went to refresh the feeder and this same blue throated bird came right up to the feeder again. I was a bit shocked and used my hand in alarm, spooking the little flyer away. I think it’s the similarity to how large hornets look that made me nervous. I’m learning and it’s really charming to think they know humans this well.
I can understand you feelings about these amazing birds. I have never had an experience quite like the ones you described but hope I do soon. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Terry
I can understand your feelings about these amazing birds. I have never had an experience quite like the ones you described but hope I do soon. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
The hummies come and get me when the feeder needs replenishing. They come and find me at the other end of my house in the kitchen window. If they could knock on the door, they would! I love them
Thank you for your response. It is amazing what they can do.
Wow!!!
I really hope Im able to attract them in November down here in South Florida
I hope you do too. It may be sooner than later as the birds are beginning to leave this neck of the woods.
I lived in SW FL for 13 years & never could get a hummingbird. In talking to my friends there, they said there aren’t any hummingbirds in FL anymore. Most likely due to the abundance of toxins being sprayed into the air for mosquito control, etc. Moved back to KY & I get them every day now. Didn’t get any all summer until someone told me to spray the outside of my feeder with cooking oil to keep the ants out. It worked. My feeder used to full of ants. Now I use the oil & no ants & plenty of hummingbirds.
Please you should never use cooking oil, menthol, petroleum jelly or any deterrent that could get in or on the feathers of the hummers
Ants can be a real problem. Hummers recognize ants as critters that can cause them harm. I am glad you found a solution to your problem
Every year for the past 4 years, in the spring when they are returning to Indiana, if I’m sitting on my patio, and I have not yet hung their feeder, a lone hummer will fly to the hook, where I routinely hang the feeder. When it sees there is no feeder, he/or she, flies right up to my face and hovers there for a few seconds, then returns to that hanger spot! I can be dense at times, but I definitely get that message! And I get right on it, lol, because I’m half afraid it will poke my eye out if I don’t!
I am a dog lover, but I put these tiny, beautiful, little creatures right up there with my domesticated pets!
I moved to a new house this summer. I sit on my porch, near the feeders, and watch. Of course, this is a new crew this year, so I sit, and sit, and start talking to them when they come to the feeder. At first they would fly away, but eventually they did get used to me. And it really didn’t take very long before they did get accustomed to my voice. Today, I held a small, handheld feeder, and it didn’t take long before I enjoyed one drinking from my hand! And I was standing right next to the larger feeder! I was able to capture 2 videos of this, with my phone camera, and one video where the one bird was attacked by another, before she was able to feed from it.
Oh what joy, to experience so close up, one of God’s greatest gifts to us!
Thank you for the wonderful blog. You capture the feeling many hummer fanciers hold. As for the hummer hurting you, the chance of that is next to impossible as their bill is not rigid, and I never heard of one trying to poke anyone.
The person having a problem with ants on their hummingbird feeders, there are feeders with built-in ant moats you fill with water and it keeps ants and other insects from being able to reach the nectar ports and also there’s bee/wasp nectar guards available (little silicone (?) caps you place over the feeder ports) and the bees and wasps can’t drink the nectar. When cleaning your feeders just make sure to use a small bottle brush to also clean those tiny awkward, hard to reach areas including in and around the feeding ports and nectar guards to keep any black mold from making hummingbirds ill or worse! Hope that’s helpful!
I hand feed while having my morning cocoa on the patio. It took a few recon flights for that to happen the first time. Once, after feeding from my knee while I read a book, the hummer checked out the blue varicose veins on my e leg. The first time I went out bare-footed, I got my toes checked out. I think it is instinctive exploration of things that might be food.
I found a baby hummingbird a couple years back in blackberry bushes. Her wing was pierced and I took her home and syringe fed her sugar water until she could fly again and let her go. I named her hummer and she would always fly back to our apartment and say hi, even bumping the window to get our attention. We moved and I thought I wouldn’t see her again. Fast forward a couple years and we moved into the apartments right next to the ones we lived in when I found her. We were out side and she hit my fiances leg to get her attention and flew off, I thought it was her but I wasn’t quite sure until about a week later I saw a hummingbird from our balcony. I called her name, “Hummer” and she flew straight at me andy fiance, like, she got about 2 feet away from us, hovered for a bit, and flew off. I thought it might’ve been a fluke but about 5 minutes later I saw her again a little further back than before and I called her name again, “Hummer” and she flew straight at us again! I know she recognizes me for sure and she even comes to her name! My fiance tried as well to call her and she went to her too, even though she wasn’t around hummer that much, maybe a 2 days. I just wanted to share.
Lucian-
I love this beautiful story! I’m sitting outside watching hummingbirds feed here, on 4th of July, feeling discouraged about our current political climate in America.
Reading this beautiful connection precious “Hummer” made w-you both left me with a sense of wonderment & hoppe in the midst. Thank you for being such kind & attentive hooman’s.
Sincerely, Julie
I have had hummingbirds come up to the window and look at me when their feeder is empty. I had one come up to the drivers window in my (red) car once when I was driving away from my home- also when the feeder was empty! The best experience I had with them was when I was watering plants in the yard and one hovered in the water stream for a minute or so. It was surreal! Apparently they like a water source near their feeder. 😌
Derry.
These are wonderful stories. I will have to use them in some of my hummingbird presentations.