I have always had 3 hummer feeders out but in previous years they have been
placed far apart, 1 out of sight of the others.  This year I placed them  all
in the same area, within 20 feet or less of each other.  I do not know  if
that accounts for the big increase in numbers of hummers we are seeing of if
this is a bumper year.  In the past we would see 3 hummers at the most at 1
time.  This year we are seeing at least 4, usually 6 or maybe more.   (They zip
around so fast they are hard to count).  My question is  concerning the females.
 We have consistently seen 4 females at the same  time, almost constantly.  I
know that birds (all species) only use feeders  as 1 stop on their feeding
route and that when you are seeing birds all day at  feeders, they are not
necessarily the same birds.  But as we are seeing  exactly 4 females all the time,
it makes me wonder if they aren't the same birds  & if so, how can they be
raising families?  There will be 4 females  here (occasionly 5) feeding for
several minutes (up to 10 min.) then they will  fly off, there will be none here
for a few minutes then 4 females will be  back.  This cycle continues all day,
with very little time when there are  no hummers.  And there is never less than
4.  We sometimes think there  are only 2 or 3, then realize the others are
sitting in the tree.  Does  anybody have any thoughts on this?  Don't the
females have to be spending  some time catching insects to feed babies or are the
young out of the nest by  now?  We have tried to identify a young male but have
not seen any in the  group of birds visiting.  And I find it hard to believe
that if these were  young birds, they would all be females.  Would appreciate
any  insight into this.  In the meantime we are reveling in the numbers of
hummers we see constantly.

Laura Dornan
Louisville



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