How to Attract Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds are found all over the Americas including the Caribbean. Famous for their ability to hover and their skill at flying backwards, hummingbirds can hover by continuously flapping their wings up to 85 times a second.

The Bee Hummingbird is the smallest bird in the world at only two inches long and weighing around 2 grams. The Giant Hummingbird is the largest hummingbird at around eight inches long and weighing about 25 grams. Hummingbirds have the fastest metabolism of all birds and to sustain this they must consume their own weight and more in food daily. In order to do this they must visit five hundred or more flowers a day to gather the nectar. They have extended tongues and beaks to reach deep into blooms. They have the ability reduce their metabolisms when at rest, in contrast to most other high metabolism animals. This lengthens their lifespan, which has been recorded at up to 16 years.

Making A Garden Friendly to the Hummingbirds

To draw hummingbirds to your garden plant brilliantly coloured flowers and shrubs. Hummingbirds have very little sense of smell but they can be attracted by bright colours. Hanging a a speciality hummingbird feeder in your garden or on your patio will be a focus for these beautiful birds. Some annuals to plant include jacobinia, salvia, beard tongue, jewelweed, impatiens and petunia. Perennial plants include hosta, hummingbird mint, cardinal flower, canna, bee balm and columbine. For trees and shrubs choose lantana, mimosa, red buckeye, azalea, buddleia and weigela.

Don’t use any insecticides in your garden as you will eradicate insects and bugs that hummingbirds eat. They also leave deposits on the blooms which the hummingbirds could ingest. Also provide lots of perching places as they spend almost eighty percent of their time sitting on branches, twigs etc. Make available plants that will supply materials for nesting to be a focus for the females. They choose soft nesting material from trees such as willow and eucalyptus and from mosses, lichens and ferns.

Hanging up brilliantly colored, hummingbird feeders in your garden will exert a pull on the hummingbirds. An excellent suggestion is to attach red streamers that will blow all around the feeder. It’s also beneficial to supply feeders at various heights as hummingbird species all have distinctive preferences. Species that prefer low growing plants will go to a feeder located lower while species that feed on taller plants and shrubs will prefer to go to a feeder located higher. Hummingbirds are also extremely territorial and one hummingbird may guard a particular feeder and prevent other birds from feeding. Place no less than 3 feeders at different heights all around your backyard.

Hummingbirds love a bath in the mist on leaves so you could set a mister close to some broadleaved shrubs to give them a bathing place.

Making Hummingbird Nectar

Make a sweet nectar by mixing together one measure of sugar and four cups of pre-boiled water. Cool then store in the refrigerator. Nectar that is unused can be kept safely for approximately a week. Scrupulously clean hummingbird feeders once a week by rinsing with a mixture of 1 cup of vinegar in 4 cups of water then rinsing out with clean water. Re-fill with the nectar and suspend in a shady place. Don’t add food coloring or sweeteners. Also don’t use honey as it may ferment and create a a fungus that can poison the hummingbirds. Swap the solution in the feeder at least every three days or more often when the weather is hotter.

Conclusion

It’s easy to make a garden to appeal to these beautiful birds. Give them the food they like and a comfortable environment and hummingbirds will pay a visit your garden often.

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