Attracting Hummingbirds into Your Garden
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Hummingbirds Are Welcomed Visitors to the Garden
Hummingbirds are the jewels of the garden. Attracting these beautiful and interesting little birds into your garden is easy, but requires more thought than just putting up a hummingbird feeder filled with sugar water if you want them to stay and take up residence in your garden.
Hummingbirds feed on nectar from flowers, and they are attracted to gardens that are filled with colorful and nectar-rich blooms. Hummingbirds also rely on insects for a large percentage of their diet and for feeding their young, and mixed garden beds filled with flowering annuals, perennials and shrubs are the perfect compliment to a hummingbird feeder. Planting a variety of flowers with varying bloom times staggered throughout the spring and summer helps to ensure a ready food supply for hungry hummers.
A carefully planned hummingbird habitat should include several food sources along with protection from weather and predators, a clean supply of water for drinking and bathing, and nesting sites for rearing their young. If you plan your garden habitat well, the hummingbirds will come. And so will other flower and nectar loving pollinators including butterflies and bees.
Here are a few tips for attracting hummingbirds, butterflies and bees to your garden.
Plant a Hummingbird Garden
Vary the Bloom Times
When planting a Hummingbird Garden, include a variety of flowering plants of varying heights and with different bloom times -- and plant as many native species as possible. With their slender beaks and long tongues, hummingbirds are perfectly adapted to feeding from elongated, tubular flowers. But they will also feast on the nectar from many different types of the flowers. As a result, creating a floral array that is attractive hummingbirds will also entice bees and butterflies -- and the garden will look good too!
With a poor sense of smell, hummingbirds rely on bright colored flowers to find their food. Hummingbirds are attracted to red flowers but they will readily visit the colorful blooms of many other annuals, perennials, herbs and flowering shrubs. If space is too limited for large garden beds filled with flowers, plant a series of annuals in containers. Hanging baskets filled with trailing Fuchsia flowers are also floral magnets for attracting hummingbirds (and butterflies and bees).
Early blooming shrubs such as lilacs and blueberry bushes provide a source of nectar in early spring. Beebalm, day lilies, butterfly weed, butterfly bushes and yuccas are favorites throughout the summer, followed by honeysuckle, Rose of Sharon and trumpet vines. When planning your humming bird garden, consider adding a few of these hummingbird favorites:
Hummingbird Plants
Beebalm
Blueberry Bushes
Butterfly Bush
Cardinal Flower
Clematis
Columbine
Coneflowers
Daylilies
Flowering Tobacco
Foxglove
Fuchia
Geraniums
Gladiolus
Hollyhocks
Hostas
Lilacs
Morning Glory
Petunias
Red Columbine
Rose of Sharon
Roses
Sage
Salvias
Trumpet Creeper (native trumpet vine)
Trumpet Honeysuckle
Yuccas
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Provide a Water Source
Like all bird visitors to the garden, hummingbirds need a fresh source of water for drinking. Hummingbirds sip the early morning dew and condensation that forms on the leaves of plants, and they can be coaxed to visit a shallow bird bath.
Hummingbirds love water misters, and will zip back and forth through the fine spray. If the garden has a lawn sprinkler system, the hummingbirds will quickly learn to fly through the shower of water droplets as they drink on the wing. Watching the little hummingbirds flash in the sunlight as they zig and zag through the curtains of water from a sprinkler head is an entertaining and rewarding experience.
The splashing spray from the waterfall or fountain in a small garden pond can also offer a water source for visiting hummingbirds, though they will seldom perch near the edge of the pond for a drink. In addition to the hummers, a small garden pond will attract a wide variety of neighborhood birds, bugs and other animals to visit, as well as offering a watery refuge for frogs and toads.
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Bird Man Mel - Attracting Hummingbirds Video
Do You have a Hummingbird Feeder?
Hang a Hummingbird Feeder
And Make Your Own Hummingbird Nectar
Hummingbirds need frequent refueling to power their near constant flight, as they buzz from bloom to bloom in search of nectar.As most backyard birders and gardeners already know, hummingbirds will readily feed from a feeder filled with fresh sugar water. With their high metabolism, hummingbirds feed almost constantly and will visit a feeder several times an hour.
Hummingbirds are very territorial and will chase competitors away from "their" feeder; hang two or more feeders if competition is high.
Hummingbird Nectar Recipe
To make hummingbird nectar, bring two cups of water to a boil. Mix in ½ cup of white granulated sugar, and allow the mixture to cool thoroughly.
The National Audubon Society does not recommend using red food dye to color the syrup, which may be harmful to the hummingbirds. The red coloration of the feeder is enough to attract hummingbirds, and they will find the feeder quickly without the adding the red food coloring.
Change the nectar often, and clean the hummingbird feeder with each filling. The sugar water nectar will stay fresh for a few days to a week, depending on the heat and humidity.
Formula for Hummingbird Nectar
2 Cups Boiling Water to 1/2 Cup Sugar
Hummingbird Feeders
Aspects 429 Hummzinger Highview Feeder
Amazon Price: $14.16 (as of 05/28/2012)
Schrodt CSH-F-R Crystal Spiral Hummingbird Feeder
Amazon Price: $36.63 (as of 05/28/2012)
Hummingbird Facts
Did you know?
The world's smallest bird is the bee hummingbird, weighing just two grams (about the same as a penny).
Hummingbirds get their name from the sound produced by their rapidly beating wings.
A hummingbird can beat its wings between 70 to 80 wing beats per second, and they can fly up to 25 mph (40kph).
Hummingbirds can fly frontward, backwards and hover in mid-air. They can also fly sideways, and even upside down!
There are over 300 species of hummingbirds, and they are found only in the North and South Americas.
Hummingbirds can visit up to 1,000 flowers per day in search of nectar - and remember every flower it visits.
Hummingbirds also eat insects.
Some Ruby Throated hummingbirds migrate from North America across the Gulf of Mexico - a non-stop flight of about 20 hours and covering a distance of almost 500 miles.
The average life span of a hummingbird is three to five years. Most die within their first year.
A hummingbird nest is just 1 ½ inches in diameter (4 cm) and made from spider webs with bits of lichen and moss.
Typically, there are two eggs per nest.
image: USFWS Public Domain
The Hummingbird Books
Attract amazing hummingbirds to your backyard! With this comprehensive, beautifully illustrated guide, you'll find it easy to attract these tiny jewel-like birds to your own yard.
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The Hummingbird Book: The Complete Guide to Attracting, Identifying, and Enjoying Hummingbirds
Amazon Price: $6.91 (as of 05/28/2012)
There is a sense of mystery that surrounds hummingbirds: Why are they so small? What makes it possible for them to hover? Why are they so colorful? Do they ever rest? This book gives the often amazing answers.
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The Secret Lives of Hummingbirds
Amazon Price: $4.68 (as of 05/28/2012)
Hummingbirds in the News
- MASTER GARDENER: How to attract hummingbirds to gardens
- BY OTTILLIA 'TOOTS' BIER Q: We would like to add some plants to our garden that will attract hummingbirds. Can you suggest something that is really easy to grow and does not require a lot of water? A: Hummingbirds are attracted to plants that are rich ...
- The Hummingbirds Are Back!
- As you've noticed, the hummingbirds are back! At least the Broad-tailed Hummingbirds are back. The rufous and calliope hummingbirds will arrive in July. The Broad-tailed Hummingbird is the only hummingbird species that nests in the area.
- Making your place inviting to hummingbirds, orioles
- By Chris Young Ruby-throated hummingbirds are back to buzzing backyard bird feeders, and orioles are chattering in the trees overhead. ?They are very different birds, but are attracted to feeders in somewhat the same way,? says Wade Kammin, ...
- Nectar makes hummingbirds at home in Odessa garden
- By Gail Diederich, Times Staff Writer My husband, Jay, recently returned from our neighbors' and announced hummingbirds were zooming around their place. We've lived at our place for 34 years, and while we have a variety of critters at our rural Odessa ...
“Attracting hummingbirds also invites other birds, butterflies, honey bees and beneficial insects”
Hummingbird Quiz
Did You Know?
Hummingbird Photos
The National Wildlife Federation Certification Program
Certify Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat
For over 35 years, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) has encouraged homeowners, schools, corporations and municipalities to incorporate the needs of the local wildlife into their landscape design.
So far, the NWF has recognized the efforts of nearly 140,000 individuals and organizations who plant native shrubs and plants for food, cover and places for raising their young, provide include a source of drinking water, and add nesting boxes for cavity nesting birds.
Please visit the NWF website for additonal information on their offical Certified Wildlife Habitat program.
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National Wildlife Federation News
- Spread of feral swine a national concern
- According to the National Wildlife Federation, there are an estimated 5 million wild hogs in the country. That number is believed to be growing, and that's a problem, said leaders of the group's 48 state and territorial affiliates.
- Bismarck rancher wins national award from NRDC
- Jay Fuhrer, district conservationist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Burleigh County, and Eliav Bitan, agriculture adviser for the National Wildlife Federation, nominated Brown for the award. Fuhrer said Brown was nominated because ...
- Alabama Wildlife Federation backs effort to tame growth in wild hogs
- ... rooting and wallowing their way through forests, fields and wetlands, aggressively devouring and destroying our native plants and wildlife habitat," said Bentley Johnson, public lands legislative representative for National Wildlife Federation.
- Wildlife federation gives Michigan poor rating for mining regulatory system
- By Jim Lynch Michigan's mining regulatory system scores poorly in a new evaluation of Great Lakes states released Thursday by the National Wildlife Federation. The report evaluated Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Canadian province of Ontario in ...
Red Carpet Studios Geo Shaped Hummingbird, 10-1/2-Inch Diameter
Amazon Price: $18.95 (as of 05/28/2012)
Hummingbird Weather Vane with Garden Stake
Amazon Price: $49.95 (as of 05/28/2012)
Thanks for stopping by!
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bloomingrose
Feb 13, 2012 @ 7:42 pm | delete
- Very beautiful lens - I love hummingbirds and saw one in my yard last summer. I would love to see more.
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Tipi
Feb 2, 2012 @ 10:53 am | delete
- Attracting Hummingbirds, what next? ~ I love the little birdies and they can get to be so friendly and trusting. Fun lens, Anthony and excellent as always. :)
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artbyrodriguez
Jan 1, 2012 @ 7:23 pm | delete
- have you ever seen a hummingbird that is catching the sunlight...even from a long distance, they look like a flashing jewel. P.S. They can also divebomb you!
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kinworm
Nov 10, 2011 @ 9:50 pm | delete
- Hubby and I adore birds but we wouldn't risk attracting them to our garden because of tge two cats next door which are very active hunters. Lovely lens.
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Evelyn_Saenz
Jul 29, 2011 @ 3:39 am | delete
- I love watching the hummingbirds come to the feeder, zip around the yard and sometimes even do figure 8's for each other. Thank you for all the helpful suggestions for attracting hummingbirds to my yard.
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