Hummingbird Habitat Basics

Are you someone who would love to create your own hummingbird habitat but fear that you you can’t do so because you lack the knowledge or don’t have enough space to do so effectively?  Well, then have a got some great news for you!   Let me explain.

If you have limited space available for creating your hummingbird habitat, don’t let that stand in your way.  It isn’t necessary that you have a lot of space to do so, because you can do so with the use of hanging baskets or even window boxes.  My mom used both of these methods extremely effectively along with all the various plants that were located throughout the yard itself.  She seemed to think that more was better then less, and she must have been correct because of the number of hummingbirds that frequented our yard.

Be sure to plant flowers of like colors in large groups.  Color is a great way to gain the attention of the hummingbirds.  The choice of what specific flowers to pant is entirely a personal matter of choice and also depends on what will grow in your area of the country.  You will want to provide a mixture of perennials and annuals.  The perennials will come back year after year and the annuals will bloom quickly.  Mom was great at always having both perennials as well as annuals, as a result the yard was always full of vibrantly colored flowers which attracted the hummingbirds.

If cost is an issue, you can grow your own plants from seeds and therefore save some money.  This wasn’t something my mom would do very often, because she liked going to the local nursery or store and purchasing plants that were ready to be planted and already full of color and beauty.  If you do want to grow your plants from seeds, you can certainly do so.  Starting the plants indoors,will help the plants bloom sooner when planted outside.  It is important for you to plant your hummingbird habitat as early as possible in order to help ensure that there will be a food source which is blooming whenever the hummingbirds arrive in your area.

It is important that the plants you select bloom at different times.  This will help ensure an additional source of nectar is a available in the spring and summer other than your hummingbird feeders.

Pesticides should not be used.  This is harmful to the hummingbirds.  Hummingbirds rely on insects and spiders as a way to add protein to their diet and they will ingest the pesticides while feeding when it is used on the plants.

Hummingbirds love water, so adding a water source to your habitat is a good way to attract the hummingbirds.  You can use either a birdbath or a mister as your source of water.  Our yard had a birdbath.  We didn’t have a mister, but I’m sure that was probably do to the fact that mom never realized that it would have been another way to help attract the hummingbirds.  It may interest you to discover that  hummingbirds don’t need the water from the birdbath or mister to drink, because nectar provides all that they need, the do like to bathe daily.  Did you know that, mom?  That is not something that I myself realized before doing research for this post.  What about you?  I’m always amazed at all that I’m constantly discovering about hummingbirds!

Lastly, you can add a few hummingbird feeders to your hummingbird habitat.  This will provide an alternate source of food to the hummingbirds and may help solve the problem of overly aggressive and territorial hummingbirds.  No matter how many various types of flowers or plants that were planted throughout our yard, there were also numerous hummingbird feeders as well.  Mom wanted to use every available resource to help draw the hummingbirds to our yard and did so with great success.