The person who hosted a RUHU female 2 years in a row here in Southern Illinois
used a bell-shaped cover along with a light bulb next to the feeder to keep it
warm. His cover was more round and the feeder suspended up in the bell, which
kept the feeder out of the wind (placed in a large Eastern Red Cedar tree) and
warm all night and day from the light bulb.
Cathie Hutcheson
Makanda, IL
On Oct 23, 2016, at 1:06 PM, Scott Weidensaul <scottweidensaul@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Kate,
First off, congrats on the ANHUs -- super record.
I've always taken a page from Bob Sargent's book and advised hosts against
using heat tape -- too difficult to control the temperature. A 150-watt
incandescent outdoor flood lamp (increasingly hard to find these days) in a
clamp-style utility lamp hood and positioned 8-10 inches beside and above the
glass reservoir seems to work very well in a lot of conditions, and can be
moved closer or farther away depending on temp. One host here in Pennsylvania
had excellent success putting a saucer-style feeder in a heated pet water
dish, even when air temps were 8-10F below zero, and wind chills of -30F or
more.
Here in the mid-Atlantic we've seen an uptick in Selasphorus reports in the
past week or so, with the first seriously cold weather in a few weeks
sweeping into the region. Two weeks ago I retrapped an AHY-F rufous at a
backyard in Lancaster County, PA, where she spent several months last autumn.
This time she was gone a few days after I retrapped her.
Scott Weidensaul
Schuylkill Haven, PA
On Oct 23, 2016, at 1:24 PM, Katherine McLaughlin (Redacted sender
"alaskahummingbird" for DMARC) wrote:
On Oct 21 I was able to capture and band 2 Anna's hummingbirds in Cordova.
An immature male and an adult female. These 2 are the first Anna's to be
banded in southcentral AK. Photos of these birds can be viewed on the
Alaska Hummingbird Project, Inc.'s facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/alaskahummingbird/
Temps have been in the upper 30's to mid 40s. This am we got to just below
freezing. I have been bringing in the feeder at night and hanging just
before dawn. Today I hung the feeder up with fresh, still pretty warm syrup
early a.m. The female showed up about a 1/2 hour later. Hope she enjoyed
her syrup tea.
I am planning on using heat tape on the feeder as the winter progresses.
Anyone use heat tape on theirs? I'm curious to know how you set it up and
how well it works for you.
Happy Banding,
Kate
Kate McLaughlin
Alaska Hummingbird Project, Inc.
PO Box 561
Cordova, AK 99574
907/573-2006
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