Category: Dear Mom

I can remember sitting on the back porch of my parents’ home watching the hummingbirds feed.  It often seemed that the hummingbirds would never stop eating and my mom and I would often wonder if the hummingbirds would overeat.  I have since learned that although hummingbirds do eat a great deal, about five to eight times and hour, they do not eat until they are fill at every opportunity.  I have also discovered a great deal else about the importance of proper hummingbird feeding that I’d like to share with you.

Mom, the hummingbird will use an enormous amount of energy each day and will therefore require one and one half times its body weight in nectar to meet its daily energy needs.  The nectar on which the hummingbird feeds  will be digested in only 20 minutes and pass entirely through the hummingbird’s digestive system.  With the enormous amount of fluid that a hummingbird will intake each day, a hummingbird’s daily urine output may exceed 80 percent of its body weight per day.

So mom, even though it often appeared that the hummingbirds would overeat, I now understand that this isn’t going to occur because of the enormous amount of energy that the hummingbird must expend, how quickly the nectar is digested and the amount of urine that is excreted per day.

Whenever I see a hanging basket filled with brightly colored flowers it always makes me think of my mom and her love of flowers and hummingbirds.  Each spring and summer, my mom would always plant a wide variety of flowers in various colors in hanging baskets all throughout the yard as yet another way to try and entice the hummingbirds to continue to visit and remain in our yard.  This was just something mom did in addition to having other plants and feeders all throughout the yard to help attract the hummingbirds,  Mom just loved beautiful flowers and if they helped attract the hummingbirds to the yard that was just the added bonus of her efforts and she thoroughly enjoyed watching the aerial displays and such put on by the hummingbirds.

Mom didn’t have a particular favorite flower to use in her hanging baskets.  She just liked to make sure that the flowers she chose offered a wide variety of color.  While red is a color that hummingbirds can see at a distance and that these birds are quite attracted to, the flowers you select can come in many colors including yellow, purple and pink.

My mom also wanted the flowers she selected to have the longest bloom time possible.  She wanted to be able to enjoy the beauty of her flowers for as long as possible and she knew that this was also a good way to try and provide another source of nectar for the hummingbirds apart from the use of hummingbird feeders.

The plants my mom selected for her hanging baskets also usually had staggered bloom times, because it would allow the hummingbirds a source on nectar for an extended period of time as well as providing a source of color and beauty for a longer period of time.

The use of hanging baskets is a simple and effective way to try and attract hummingbirds.  You can use it if you have limited space but still want to try and attract hummingbirds to your yard or in addition to a full sized hummingbird garden or the use of hummingbird feeders. 

Our yard was always full of hanging baskets in the spring and summer.  It not only helped to make the yard much more colorful and beautiful but it also served as an effective enticement which drew the hummingbirds to our yard.  To this very day, whenever I see a hanging basket I am reminded of its beauty and I cannot help but also think of the hummingbirds that would visit our yard as a result of the hanging baskets.  Thanks for this mom!

Many things can spark rememberances of those we have loved and lost.  It can be caused by things such as the date, sights, sounds, smells and much more.  When it comes to my mom many things can cause me to remember her such as the smell of her favorite perfume, her cooking of cetain foods (Mexican food, cornbread dressing, homemade rolls and more) or the sight of a hummingbird all cause me to especially think of my mom.  

Today date has had me thinking of both my parents a great deal.  You see, today would have marked my parents’ 55 wedding anniversary, but my mom passed away almost 3 three years ago.  My thoughts have been with my dad because of how much I’m sure he is missing her and wishing they could have reached this milestone in their lives,  Mom has not only been on my mind because of the significance of this date but also because of something I read concerning hummingbird nectar.  I’m sure mom would have found it to be quite interesting.

According to the Wild Bird Habitat Store commercially made hummingbird nectar is supposed to last longer.  It is supposed to only needed to be changed every four or five days.  Homemade hummingbird nectar is said to be needed to be changed every two days.  The reason for this I do not know, because no explanation for this statement was given. 

This is something that I know you would debate strongly with people.  After all, the yard was always full of hummingbirds feeding at your feeders and you always used homemade nectar in your feeders.  You always used a mixture of 1 part sugar to 4 parts water to make the nectar.  Then you would dissolve the sugar completely, let the mixture cool completely and then once again fill and hang the feeders.

You always made sure to clean the feeders regularly, usually when the feeder was empty, but you would do so whenever it was necessary.  You always made sure that the nectar solution in the feeder was not cloudy looking and that there was no black mold in it.  You always made sure to clean your feeders with a solution of bleach and water or even by placing the feeders in the dishwasher and then running it.

You believed in making your own hummingbird nectar for several reasons.  It was simple to do and it was inexpensive to do compared to purchasing commercially made hummingbird nectar.  You believed that the nectar solution was an alternate food source for the hummingbirds besides the numerous flowers you had planted in the yard to entice the hummingbirds.  

Hummingbirds are creatures of habit and as a result they will visit the same flowers and feeders year after year.  Hummingbirds know when they can trust a food source and when they can’t and you will have a hard time enticing the birds back if they have had a bad experience with the food source in your feeders. 

When it comes to selecting a food source, what is most important is the quantity and quality of the nectar which is available. Whenever choosing a flower, the hummingbird will select the flower with the highest nectar output and the richest concentration of sugars, regardless of the shape or color of the flower. Also more important than the color of the flower is how the nectar taste.

Also, you knew that most commercially produced hummingbird nectar mixes contained red dye in them and that this was not necessary to help you attract the hummingbirds.  Even though you weren’t aware of this, red dye is not necceary in nectar solution and has been proven to be harmful to the birds.  Most feeders on the market today have red on them or you can add a red ribbon to the feeder to draw the attention of the hummingbirds. 

So, while there are those who state that commercially produced nectar does not have to be changed as frequently,  I myself would not choose to use it and I’m sure that you would feel the same way mom.  Regardless of whether you choose to use homemade or commercially produced nectar solution in your fedders, it is importaant to remember to change it as often as is necessary,  After all, no one wants to intentionally harm the hummingbirds, and I know that that was something that you certainly never wanted to do yourself mom.

I miss you so much and wish you were still with us mom.  I want you to know that I feel extremely blessed to have had parents who were married for 52 years.  INot many people these days can say that, but I can and do with great pride and love.  I also which I could share my knowledge of hummingbirds with you as being able to debate issues concerning hummingbirds with you.  What lively and interesting conversations that would have been!  Well, sice I can’t do so, I jwill ust have to let other offer their opinion on the subject of homemade vs. commercial nectar. 

Those of you who have hummingbird feeders in you yard, what is your opinion on this natter?  Please let me know what you think. 

I have many very fond memories of sitting outside with my parents and watching the hummingbirds feed.  The hummingbirds would put on quite the aerial show and my mom and I would particularly enjoy watching the hummingbirds fight over which one  was going to be allowed to feed at that moment.  It often seemed like the show would never end because it seemed as if they were constantly feeding.  I have since learned that this is a very common misconception that many people have, so I thought in today’s post I would examine exactly what determines how much a hummingbird will eat.

We were always amazed at just how often the hummingbirds would eat.  We often wondered if it was possible for a hummingbird to overeat.  I have since discovered that a hummingbird knows the exact amount of food it needs at any given time of day.  The exact amount of nectar that a hummingbird must intake varies from day to day and is dependent on a number of factors:  the birds activity level, the quality of the resources available, the time of year, and air temperature.

During the daylight hours a hummingbird will eat frequently for brief periods of time.  This happens between 5 and 8 times per hour with each feeding lasting about 30 seconds in length.  At night a hummingbird will eat as heavily as the food supply will allow and store up to 1/3 of its body weight to help ensure that it will survive though the night.

Apparently mom, our fears that the hummingbirds could possibly overeat were quite misguided.  Isn’t it neat to know that nature has ways of helping to determine exactly how much food the hummingbird needs to eat in order to survive?