I have never put up a hummingbird feeder because they MUST be cleaned regularly or they will cause illness ... and I know how disorganized I am.

We have other feeders though and I think the hummingbirds recognize that, because for the past 2 years we've had at least one female stop by and hover in front of our picture window, as if asking where is their feeder and when are we going to put it up?

This is not as fanciful as it sounds. At my cousin's house they knock on the windows if their feeders aren't out when the arrive in the spring. And when fall comes, the goldfinches come and twitter in the trees until we put the thistle feeder out for them.

Years ago a neighbor of my parents had a fan-style lawn sprinkler going. On each arc it sprayed through the branches of a silver maple tree. A flock of at least a dozen chickadees were having a blast playing in the water as it came by. My mom and I watched for about 10 minutes.

Rita D