My
hummingbird feeders have had a tragedy. They got discovered by the bees. I’ve
had these feeders up for over a year and no bees. Sometimes a wasp will come by
and take a look, but it quickly flies on and all is well. Never did a bee come
by – until the big rain storm on September 26, 2014. I can only think the
flowers were so inundated with rain water the bees couldn’t get to their normal
supply of nectar. Whatever the reason, they descended in droves on my south
side feeder.
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| Bees take over the feeder. |
That
feeder had one station with no bee guard. It wasn’t as though I didn’t have one
for it. I couldn’t keep it on because the finches kept pulling it off to get to
the sweet water. I’d put if back on and they’d pull it off and toss it away.
Sometimes it landed several feet from the feeder. Finally I gave up and left it
off. Which was alright, until the rain storm.
I
thought I knew what to do. I waited until evening, when the bees had left,
after draining the feeder dry. I took the feeder in and gave it a good cleaning,
reinstalled the bee guard and took it back out. Well, that didn’t work. The
finches quickly pulled it off again. When the bees came and took over that
station, the finches pulled off a second guard. And the bees took over that
station as well.
This time
I took the feeder in while it was still daylight because the bees had already
drained it. Only when I opened the feeder to wash it, I found bees had
crawled inside of the feeder where I couldn’t see them at first. The last thing
I wanted was a house full of bees. I quickly put the top on again and rushed it
outside, where I opened it and laid it on the rocks. The next morning I went
out to retrieve it. When I washed it out, I found dead bees inside. Gross.
I didn’t
attempt to take it back out. I purchased another feeder of the type I have on
the west and north sides. But it had a little leak on the side that I never
would have noticed, except the bees descended on it. Finally that leak sealed
off and the bees stayed away and so did the birds. I have not seen one single
hummer at that feeder. The finches like to drink out of the ant moat, but that
is the only activity at the feeder.
Then
the bees moved to the north side feeder. It has been up for over a year and
never a bee. What I didn’t realize is that feeder didn’t completely seal. Sweet
water oozed out a little around the side between the plastic and glass. The
bees found that. Now I had bees all around the connection and they also decided
to drink fresh water from the ant moat. So bees top and bottom. And they
drained the feeder in just a few hours.
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| Why I thought the bee guard worked. |
I
changed that feeder for the one I had taken off the south side. Finches never
go to the north side so I figured the bee guards would stay on. Oh, yes, they
did, but it didn’t stop the bees. They just patiently waited for the sweet
water to drip down and happily drained that feeder as well. Finally I gave up.
The north side feeder is no more. The south side feeder attracts no hummers.
Only the west side feeder is still active.
Maybe
it’s fortunate that I am low on hummers right now. All I seem to have is a few
immatures coming to the west side feeder. I am looking for another type of
feeder that the bees won’t be able to get to. The problem is it has to have an
ant moat, since I also have trouble with those six-legged creatures. Oh, well,
it’s good exercise for the brain!
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| This is an Anna's immature male, note the size of the bird and length of the tail. |
