Hummingbirds

A few days ago I was standing at the kitchen window and was surprised to see a hummingbird investigating the porch. The former house owners left a ton of cup hooks up on the roof part, so I'm thinking they might have had hummingbird feeders there at one point. Who am I to argue with a hummingbird? They are so much cooler than I ever thought about being!

Did you know that hummingbirds...
* have heartbeats up to 1,260 per minute, and take up to 250 breaths a minute
* consume half their weight in sugar daily
* eat small flying insects as well as nectar
* flap their wings 80 times per second
* can fly forwards, backwards, up, dow, sideways, and even upside down, at up to 60mph...but can't walk

So today I went to the Backyard Bird Shop in town, to find a decent hummingbird feeder and potentially a dripper for my birdbath (another story.) I had no idea there were so many types of hummingbird feeders! I still think of them as the bulb-shaped containers filled with red liquid and with a little glass spout at the bottom, which attracted more bees and wasps than birds and was generally kind of a bust.

Apparently hummingbird feeders have come a long way since my childhood. They now are generally drip-free, as they are designed to allow the birds to perch and feed from above, instead of hover and feed from below. They may come with ant traps to deter ants from stealing the sugar water, and probably attract fewer bees because they don't drip or leave sugar on the outside of the container as much as previous designs. It's now also recommended that you clean your feeders weekly with vinegar and rinse in hot water.

After wishing I could afford to buy them all, I purchased a decorative, three "flowered" feeder with glass bulbs set into driftwood and topped with bright red tin "flowers" possessing yellow centers for feeding. I also purchased a window-attached feeder with two glass tubes with red caps wrapped up in copper wire and attached to a suction cup for sticking to a window.

The lady at the shop told me that hummingbirds are territorial, so it's best to set stations up a fair distance apart. It wasn't until after I was on my way home that I wondered, what then is the purpose of having two or three "flowers" on each feeder? Just for the bird's entertainment? In case he brings a date?

One way to attract more of the little hummers into your yard, and thus have more visitors to your feeder, is to fill your garden with plants that hummingbirds happen to like. Since I'm looking at planting a new yard this spring, I have sheets on attracting various critters. For hummingbirds, attractive plants generally possess tubular flowers, in colors of red, orange, scarlet and gold.

Plants that attract hummingbirds include:
* (Perennials) Columbine, Foxglove, Fireweed, Bee Balm, Clarkia, Salvia, Trumpet Vine, Honeysuckle, Fuschia
* (Annuals)Petunia, Nasturtium, Red Salvia, Snapdragons, Scarlet Runner Beans
* (Shrubs/Trees)Butterfly Bush, Hardy Fuschia, Salal, Flowering Currant, Salmonberry

At checkout time, I noted that the shop was charging $4.00 for a small box of "nectar" powder. When I investigated, it was merely sucrose. Sugar. Fortunately, the gal at the counter also gave me a recipe for Homemade Hummingbird Nectar:

* Boil 2 cups of water for 1-2 minutes
* Remove from heat, add 1/2 cup white sugar
* Stir to dissolve, and allow to cool
* DO NOT add food coloring, or use Honey or Sugar Substitutes

Fill feeder with only as much nectar as will be consumed in 4 or 5 days (or fill to the top if you are willing to throw it out if unconsumed.) Store remaining solution in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Take the feeder down, rinse with hot tap water and vinegar, and refill with nectar every 5 days at minimum (more in hot weather). Spoiled or moldy nectar can kill hummingbirds.