We kinda left our hummer feeder out too long this year but now a bird we've never seen before is feeding from it? We've been refilling it and it drinks an entire bottle in a week. I checked the Audubon list and can't id it. The bird is the size and shape of a finch but has a long thin straight beak similar to a hummer. The back is light brown and the breast is a yellow/bronze color all the way up to the neck. Never seen this before in 62 years. Very skiddish but I'll try and post a pic. Any ideas?

You don't think it's a Rufous Hummingbird? I always think of them as being a western hummer, but you can see in the link below they say they are known to be in South Carolina.

In North Texas they say leave your feeder out a little later as the Rufous tends to arrive later than the others.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/...ufous_Hummingbird/id

https://www.beautyofbirds.com/...dssouthcarolina.html

That's not it. This bird is 4-5 times the size of a hummer. His beak indicates he is equipped for very tiny seeds or nectar.

Sounds a bit like a Yellow Warbler or maybe a Yellow Chat

From what I can find, the yellow warbler has a short beck and the yellow chat is native to Australia. A pix would sure help.

Perhaps - http://www.oiseaux-birds.com/card-carolina-wren.html

How's the weather been?

"When occur very cold winter, Carolina Wren retreats to bird feeders. "

quote:

Originally posted by Grenadier:
Perhaps - http://www.oiseaux-birds.com/card-carolina-wren.html

How's the weather been?

"When occur very cold winter, Carolina Wren retreats to bird feeders. "

Weather has been unseasonably warm until today. We're familiar with the Carolina Wren as it is our state bird. This bird is at least double the size.

That sounds more like one of the snipe species.
They look a lot like hummingbirds in flight.

I can't imagine any of those birds FEEDING from a hummingbird feeder.

Write ups say that in tough winters "those birds" will often be found eating from bird feeders.

Some non-humming birds feeding:

The last pic is the bird we have. Any idea what the name is? That is also the exact feeder we have.

Looks like a warbler.

Those are some interesting photos. I pull my hummer feeder in Nov. 1st so I haven't witnessed that kind of activity. I will put my feeder back out in mid-March.

quote:

Originally posted by Bobster:
The last pic is the bird we have. Any idea what the name is? That is also the exact feeder we have.

Oriole.

Yep, female Baltimore Oriole. Thanks for all of the help!

http://www.pwconserve.org/grap...ge_Female_800pix.jpg

I thought that there was so much mixture of the orioles that they dropped the Baltimore part of the name ??

Warblers vary so much that it's confusing. They are a very large group ranging from yellow with just a little bit of black to black with just a little bit of yellow .