[obol] A Tree for Hummingbirds

[gerard.lillie at comcast.net]

I also can attest that silk trees are great hummingbird trees. My next door neighbors had a large silk tree that attracted many hummers through the period you describe. I was very disappointed when the tree became diseased and had to be taken down but at least I was able to enjoy it for many years.

Gerard Lillie
Portland, OR

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: "John Thomas" <johnpam at ipns.com> 

> We have an "exotic," a Silk Tree (sometimes a problem in other areas when it 
> spreads) that our hummingbirds just are crazy about. It starts blooming in 
> early July and they just descend on it like honey bees to a field of clover. 
> And they are on it until they leave in August -though once in awhile an 
> immature will hang on a few more weeks into September-always on the Silk 
> Tree. 
> 
> We have lots of shrubs and flowers for the hummingbirds but are always 
> amazed at how attached to this tree they seem to be! I usually don't see 
> this tree on lists of plants to attract hummingbirds probably due to its 
> exotic background. But it is a winner when it comes to attracting 
> hummingbirds so I thought I would mention it on this forum. 
> 
> As for the hummingbird population: we have not done a count but we have 
> enough numbers to keep 3 feeders going down and lots of buzzing and cussing 
> activity all day long around the house. If I try to think back to all the 
> years we have fed hummingbirds, we are down a little from maybe 10 years ago 
> but have rebounded from a few years with fewer numbers. Those years had 
> hummingbirds just disappear for weeks after heavy local farm spraying 
> (upwind, unfortunately). 
> 
> We had a male Rufous about 5 days ago. We think he was a migrant going south 
> and dropping by for a swig and rest. Our main male(s) seem to have left 
> several weeks ago now. 
> 
> 
> Good HummingBirding, 
> John Thomas 
> Silverton 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________ 
> obol mailing list 
> obol at lists.oregonstate.edu 
> http://lists.oregonstate.edu/mailman/listinfo/obol 
> 
> To unsubscribe, send a message to: 
> obol-leave at lists.oregonstate.edu. 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.oregonstate.edu/mailman/private/obol/attachments/20070714/1cab44f9/attachment.htm