The answer is in the post A very special dinner guest from 2 years ago. Hopefully they'll see your feeder as they buzz by and decide to stop for a drink, and they just may hang out and visit you for the summer!Įdited: I have received a few messages asking me why/how I'm holding a hummingbird. Try to get your feeders up a week or so before when the hummingbirds are expected in your area. The migrate according to daylight hours and hormones, not food availability. It's a myth that hummingbirds won't migrate if feeders are left up too long in the fall. Florida starts to see hummers migrating north as early as January while it may take until May for them to get up to the Great Lakes area.
I live in Pennsylvania, so it's time to put out our feeders for the season. This is a super short video, but after I refilled the feeder today, one hummingbird was chasing all the others away when they got near it! They were actually fighting over it.
#HUMMINGBIRD NECTAR RATIO WINDOWS#
When the sugar starts to ferment it can get the hummingbirds 'drunk' causing them to fly into windows or other things causing injury or death. Change your nectar every 3-4 days to prevent fermentation. Hummingbird nectar only lasts a few days before it needs changed.Which is a good reason to place your feeder near flowers.
They remember where every source of food is so when they don't find the feeder, they won't look around for it they'll just move on to the next place they know food is. Hummingbirds aren't very afraid of humans so you can hang a feeder outside your window and they will visit it and let you observe them!.Hang your hummingbird feeder in the shade so that the nectar stays fresh longer.Now that you have the right food to put in the feeder, the feeder itself needs a little bit of TLC. You can also use spring water if you have it. They contain too much iron,ĭon't use distilled water, it has all of the naturally occurring minerals removed. Never use honey, organic sugar, cane or agave syrup,īrown sugar or artificial sweeteners. Hummingbirds are attracted to the color red though, so I just buy the red feeders. The red dye is not necessary and may be toxic to their systems. As long as you stick to the 1 to 4 ratio, it will turn out right!Īs an added bonus, it's much cheaper then the store bought stuff! Or you can just mix 1/4 cup of sugar with 1 cup of water so there's none left over. If you have extra you can store it in a closed jug in the refrigerator. That's it! Pour into feeder and hang in the same spot they're used to it being in. Make Your Own Hummingbird Nectar Recipe: Dissolve 1 cup of sugar into 4 cups of water. No red dye stuff, no flavor sticks to add in (I was buying them mango flavor sticks for their hummingbird juice) just plain sugar and water. I found out that the best things for them is simply a homemade mix of sugar and water. I had never heard of such a thing! I always bought those quart jugs of red 'hummingbird syrup' and poured it in the feeder. (for more information check out the hummingbird info website) There was also information about feeding hummingbirds and it suggested that we not buy premade food and instead mix our own about twice a week. There was so much more information but those are just a few of my favorites. Hummingbirds migrate, some going all the way down to cross the Gulf of Mexico!.A hummingbird can visit up to 1,000 flowers per day and remembers where they all are!.Hummingbird feet are only used for perching, not hopping or walking.They eat an average of 7 times per hour.Hummingbirds beat their wings at a rate of about 70 beats per second.She brought home a sheet of paper that detailed lots of fascinating hummingbird facts. Every summer I hang the feeders out for them and they grace us with their beauty all season long.Ī few years ago my mother-in-law went to an event that had a speaker who talked about hummingbirds. I've always had hummingbirds in my backyard.