Hummingbird population thins in Las Vegas NV – only the winter residents stay

                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.

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.

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!

This is an Anna's immature male, note the size of the bird and length of the tail.