Hummingbird Feeder??!!

We were playing with the webcam from the Sturm computer on Sunday morning, when all of a sudden, something blurry flew into the shelter. It took us a couple of seconds to realize that it was a hummingbird! OMG, I've never seen a hummingbird at a bee shelter before! Jays and woodpeckers are always a threat, and screening is recommended if bird predation is a problem. But hummingbirds?

We hadn't yet figured out that we can capture and save the webcam images, so I tried to photograph the computer screen to document this visit. See the blurry light blob just right of the left-most cottage cheese container - emergence box? That's the hummingbird. It was the best that I could do.

She didn't stay long. I think this little bird was a female because I didn't see any flashy metallic male colors, although the light may not have been right in the shelter. We watched her stick her long beak into a couple of entrances in the Binderboard, and then into the holes of the emergence boxes. We couldn't tell if she found any bees to snack on, but she certainly could have been eating them. It's also possible that she thought these were hummingbird feeders and she was looking for nectar.

We only saw the one visit, never saw her in person at the shelters. Before leaving the farm we covered the shelter with vinyl mesh to keep the birds out. Hopefully it will keep out our little hummingbird and her friends. Sorry hummers, these bees are not for you!