Does Anybody know what time of day hummingbirds are most active?
Hi greenthumb. I seem to have more activity early morning when it's just barely enough light for them to fly, and then in the late afternoon.
Hummers have to feed at first light after they awake from their condion of "torpor'. This is a condition in which their bodily functions shutdown and they seem as if they are dead. They have to do this to survive the night. So yes they have to feed early and then they are also quite active just before they go to roost.
I just read in Birds & Blooms magazine that hummers start feeding as early as 45 minutes before daybreak. So I watched the feeders and sure enough a male was feeding yesterday when it was just barely light enough to see him. Saw him again this evening when it was nearly dark. They are starting to fight over the feeders which always makes an intersting show!
Where do they hang during the heat of the day, when feeder visitation is at its minimum?