Attracting hummingbirds
It has been several years since I’ve tried feeding hummingbirds at a feeder. In the past I’ve attracted more wasps than hummingbirds, but I know that we have hummers around. They stop by the front porch to sample my hanging flower baskets quite often. Obviously it’s not vital to have a hummingbird feeder to attract them, but when I saw this little Opus feeder, it was just too pretty to pass by. I’ll give it another try.
After reading about hummingbirds, it seems like a good idea to hang a feeder in the spring. The hummers migrate over long distances and, when they arrive here in mid-to-late April, a supply of flower nectar is never a sure thing. They’re hungry and in need of a steady source of nectar. The long migration north takes a lot out of them. Having a hummingbird feeder ready for the new arrivals is kind of a neighborly thing to do. And it might just encourage a mama hummer to stick around and raise a family.
This year, I plan to plant more flowers to attract hummingbirds. From past experience, I know that they love Monarda didyma
—also known as Bee Balm, Oswego Tea, and Bergamot. The image is from one of my former herb gardens. And, by adding in lots of petunias, impatiens, red salvia, and some scarlet runner beans (available at Burpee Seeds), my backyard should be a hummingbird oasis.
Here is a Spring 2006 Migration Map for first Ruby-throated hummer sightings. They’ve reached Tennessee, southern Kentucky, and coastal North Carolina, so far. It’ll probably be another three weeks to a month before I need to hang the pretty new feeder. I wish spring would hurry up.
Also see:
University of Maine Fact Sheet on Ruby-throated hummingbirds. Really cool info.
The Hummingbird Society - all things hummingbird.
More facts related to ecology and conservation of hummingbird habitat, along with tons of hummingbird facts. (Interesting fact: Hummingbirds can suffer from hypothermia if they perch to drink cold sugar water from a feeder on cold mornings. If the feeder doesn’t permit perching (and hummers will often perch to eat if a perch is available), the work of hovering will heat their muscles and prevent hypothermia from setting in. Best to bring a perch feeder—like mine— into the house overnight to keep the sugar water warm.)
Whoa! That’s one cranky looking hummingbird! Geez, his beak looks like a lethal weapon.
Did you see any of the photographer’s other bird pictures? He’s very, very good. This cardinal is quite striking, too. The pic has an otherworldy feel.
I have a couple just like that feeder. ANd slowly but surely I have attracted hummingbirds to it. The one thing I had been doing wrong was putting it out too late in the spring--you are right, you need to get their attention early on. I usually try to wait til the danger of freezing is over cause I would never be organized enough to remember to bring it in. I make my own sugar water too. Just sugar, water, cook til suger is dissolved, cool, add red coloring as it attracts them and bingo, presto, hummers outside your window!! At my mom’s house they actually sit and perch for reasonably long periods of time on her clothesline before darting back and forth to her feeders. What a picture......and no, I never think to take one!! AND also no, I do not remember what proportion of sugar to water I use. Probably too much!!
One caution though--the little flower sippers on your feeder?? Take a toothbrush or some kind of brush periodically and clean them out, they get really black and gross!!
Have fun.
Posted by cyn on 03/21/06 at 09:25 AM
Spring isn’t in any hurry, is it? I’ve had a lot of birds vising my feeders, but they are still the local variety—juncos, nuthatches, chickadees, downy woodpeckers, house finches. I expect to see the juncos leave soon, but they’re still here—so that must mean winter is still here.
I can hardly wait to hang the hummingbird feeder, but now I can’t decide where to put it. Front porch, deck, off a tree in the back? Decisions, decisions.
Everything I’ve read so far says I should clean the hummingbird feeder thoroughly once a week...with a weak bleach solution, then copious rinsing. And change the sugar water every two or three days, depending on the heat. A toothbrush should get any gunk out of the crevices.
Do you have wasp problems, Cyn? That’s the main reason I stopped messing around with hummingbird feeders. Although I also read that reducing the sugar content in the water will help discourage them, while still attracting hummers. OR hang two feeders, one with a strong sugar content for the wasps and weaker solution for the birds. I’m not inclined to cater to the wasps though. I’m already a wasp magnet and encouraging them is only asking for trouble.
Spring??? If we are lucky, it might make a (fleeting) appearance in another month or so!! BTW, my resident bird specialist (mom--age 90--I figure her age alone should make her a specialist in one or two fields) just told me not to rush getting my hummer feeders out that it will be good month or more before I should. DAMN!!
As for wasps, no they have never been an issue that I am aware of - they have built nests in lots of places in my yard--last spring or summer I was stung numerous times. I have had an ant problem periodically with the feeders. SOmehow they manage to find a trail up the tree, down the branch and into the feeder. Not sure why some years and not others, but I do watch for it.
As for location of your feeder, I don’t think it much matters to the birds, they seem to like them wherever. My only suggestion is to make it very difficult for the **!!** squirrels to get at it. I have lost a couple to them because they chewed holes in them.
Posted by cyn on 03/24/06 at 08:47 AM
I am (knocking really hard on wood) virtually squirrel free these days. It’s not that they’ve disappeared, but Terry is a major squirrel deterrent. She caught one a couple of years ago and has given chase a few times since. They’ve learned to stay out of the yard. The quantity of seed I go through has dropped quite dramatically.
Hey, I saw a license tag today that said Cyn-. It wasn’t you, but I thought of you. 
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Not the sort of hummingbird you’d like to attract, I suppose, but amazing nonetheless.
It’s slightly photoshopped; the original is linked in the comments.