Where are all the hummingbirds in the Chattahoochee Valley?

It’s not just in your yard, and it’s not your imagination — there really are fewer hummingbirds flitting around than usual for this time of year.

Dozens of residents in the Chattahoochee Valley responded to a question posted on a local Facebook group asking if others had noticed fewer hummingbirds at their feeders this year. Many people said they had only seen one or two birds. Other reported seeing none for the year.

Hummingbird migration patterns are difficult to predict, but self-reporting tools such as eBird allow researchers to get a rough estimate of when their numbers rise and fall in different areas.

Hummingbird sightings in Georgia tend to start in mid-March, drop slightly in June, and then spike rapidly from July to October after breeding season is over.

Numbers in Georgia for 2017 have been notably lower than average, especially in the earlier parts of June.

“Early season hummingbird sightings seemed to be down in much of the East, though it is always tough to say,” an expert at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology said in an email to the Ledger-Enquirer. “I just wrapped up a correspondence with a woman in Maryland who was distraught several weeks ago because her usual 50-hummingbird station was only getting two birds. Yesterday she wrote to say she now had 40+, but the arrival of the bulk of them was nearly one month later than usual.”

The good news is that the numbers seem to be stabilizing, and counts for late June appear to be rebounding to more predictable levels.

“With hummers in particular, I think some people leave each season with the memory of numbers and frequency based on the late summer, when the number of birds tends to double or triple, then they get disappointed when the pre-breeding numbers are not at that same level,” the expert said.

“The good news for ruby-throated hummingbirds is that they seem to be doing ok here in Georgia and throughout most of their range,” said Jennifer Newbrey, Ph.D, a professor and ornithologist at Columbus State University.

So Valley residents are right — there have been fewer birds this year. But it looks like we might start seeing more of them next month. Cornell’s bird lab experts encouraged residents to help the ornithology lab track bird populations by using the eBird tool.

“We just have to keep watching and keep encouraging people to track their sightings.”

For those looking to get more involved in tracking and learning about the flora and fauna of the region, the Columbus Audobon Society meets the third Thursday of each month at Oxbow Meadows at 7 p.m., though they suspend meetings during the summer.

This story was originally published June 21, 2017 at 11:19 AM with the headline "Where are all the hummingbirds in the Chattahoochee Valley?."