- Whenever you are using plants to help create you hummingbird habitat, be sure to place flowers of like color in large groups. A large area of color is more likely to catch the hummingbird’s attention rather then having single plants around the yard.
- Plant perennials because they will come back year after year and be a consistent and dependable food source for the hummingbirds that visit your yard.
- If you have a new garden, annuals will bloom quickly and serve as effective way to attract hummingbirds.
- It is also useful to plant a wide variety of flowers that will boom at different times, because this will help ensure that there is a natural nectar source available during the spring and summer.
- Add a water source, either a birdbath or mister, to your hummingbird habitat. Hummingbirds love to take a bath daily and this will allow the birds to do so.
- You can even hang a few feeders in your hummingbird habitat. This will allow the birds the choice of feeding from the natural food sources or the feeders. Due the fact that hummingbirds are very territorial, it is better to space your feeders apart so that more birds will be able to feed at the same time.
- Set up a place where you can enjoy viewing the hummingbirds. The location should be in a shady area and not be too close to the hummingbirds that your presence there scares off the birds that you are trying so hard to attract,
Month: April 2009
I recently asked a good friend why she hadn’t yet put up her hummingbird this season. You see, she is an avid hummingbird enthusiast and normally does so faithfully. Her response surprised me. She said she couldn’t do so because she was going to be leaving on vacation soon and that because she wouldn’t be here to refill the feeder the hummingbirds would starve to death. This simply is not true! Let me explain.
Think of the nectar solution in your hummingbird feeders as an energy drink for the hummingbirds. It will give the birds a quick boost of energy whenever it is needed, but nectar is not how hummingbirds get the majority of there nutritional needs met.
The hummingbird gets a great deal of their nutritional needs met by eating things such as aphids, mosquitoes, fruit flies and gnats. These things are all vital sources of protein to the hummingbird’s diet and the hummingbird must have this to ensure their survival.
Lastly, plants, flowers and bushes are excellent sources of nectar for hummingbirds. Even if your feeder should become empty while you are on vacation, the hummingbirds will have plenty of natural sources of nectar on which to feed while you are gone.
Hummingbirds are very resourceful and therefore will not stave just because you have gone on vacation for a brief period of time. Don’t let your upcoming vaction stop you from hanging your hummingbird feeders! Hang it now and enjoy it before you leave and then also upon your return from vacation.
Categories
White Hummingbird
This video was filmed in Isouthern ndiana in 2008 and shows an albinio hummingbird. This is an extermely rare occurance, so very few people actuallyget to view one firsthand which is why I wanted to share this video with you. These hummingbirds are not a seperate species.
Hummingbirds usually live between 3-5 five years. The same is not true of albino hummingbirds. The reason for this is due to the fact that these rare birds often have poor eyesight and more brittle feathers then other hummingbirds and this causes them to have a reduced flying ability.
The country of Ecuador has an astounding 130 different species of hummingbirds. Just to give you some perspective here, there are only some 17 different species of hummingbirds which are found in the United States. How amazing it must be to have the opportunity to possibly view so many different hummingbird species in one country. A few of the hummingbirds that you might witness in Ecuador include the following: the Speckled Hummingbird, the Purple-throated Woodstar, and the Violet-tailed Sylph.
It is probably universally known that hummingbirds are attracted to red, but it turns out that there is a real reason to explain why hummingbirds prefer brightly colored flowers. So what is this reason? In many cases, although there are exceptions, the brighter the flower the sweeter the nectar which is inside it.
I find this discovery quite surprising and interesting. I’m always amazed by the fascinating information which I continually discover on my quest to constantly add to my knowledge of the fascinating creature known as the hummingbird.
This discovery is the kind of fact about hummingbirds that my mom would have enjoyed knowing. I hope you also like it as well. What else would you like to discover about hummingbirds? Let me know and the topic may result in a future post.