It’s been busy around here. The hot spell has broken, thanks to Hurricane Debbie, and I’ve been trying to get some things done around here. The head is still an issue, but I’ve got a fresh load of Botox onboard and have great hopes for some longer, migraine-free, days.
Speaking of Debbie, while she was providing us with a surplus of rain (I clocked 4″ in my rain gauge), I checked out the front porch to see how the hummingbird feeders were holding up. Two one-quart feeders were bone dry and I had a swarm of indignant hummingbirds buzzing around, looking at me accusingly. I ran (well, walked quickly) into the house, got another feeder, filled it, and put it in place of one of the dry feeders. I washed that one, refilled it, and hung it out. Dropping the dry one in the kitchen, I jumped on Amazon and ordered a couple of new feeders so I can go into a rotation. Right now, I’m putting out three one-quart feeders each day and they’ll eat all of it. We’re going through 20+ pounds of sugar every two weeks, to the tune of $19 or so. The heck with the money, the time, and the effort. I can’t have my happy hummers hungry, can I?
I’ve got to get the tops of those posts primed and painted in the fall and install some anti-bird plastic finger-things bird spikes. Those are bad places for the birds to nest–black snakes. Another thing to toss on the foot-deep list of things to do.
Wow! Love the video. I get a few hummers here. They chase off other hummers sometimes, so I don’t know how many we get. Maybe I’ll put up another feeder.
What do the snakes do? Crawl up the post? Yikes. And is a black snake like a rat snake or racer?
The only way they get to where I’ve seen them would be to crawl up a post. You can’t see it, but there is a small ledge crated by the trim and they’ll get up there and slither along until they find a nest, then they eat the eggs/chicks. I haven’t seen one this year, but the nest you see was abandoned in mid-breeding season.
We have garter snakes and an occasional milk snake. They don’t climb stuff. The milk snakes will sometimes look threatening, but both are harmless, unless you’re a frog or mouse, I guess.