Saturday, April 10, 2021

Waiting for Hummingbirds

 


We put our hummingbird feeders out two days ago, on April 8th.  I make the nectar myself, following an Audubon Society recipe:  

(1) Bring 5 cups of water to a rolling boil.

(2) Stir in 1 and 1/4 cups of granulated sugar. Let it boil for a minute to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat. When cool, pour into two 20-ounce mason jars and refrigerate.  

(3) Pour 3/4 to 1 cup of cold sugar water into each feeder, depending on demand. Making 40 ounces at a time provides enough nectar to fill our two feeders twice, with some left over.  

We have two feeders. one in the front yard and one in the back.  I change the nectar twice a week. I bring the feeders with the "old" nectar inside, empty them,  and clean them with hot water and white vinegar. Left alone, they will develop mold and mildew. I put "new" nectar in clean feeders. (We have two sets of feeders.)

The water in the little cup above the feeder is meant to discourage ants, and works quite well. Bees and wasps are another matter. They visit the feeders constantly, so you have to watch out for them when removing a feeder. 

While awaiting the arrival of the feisty hummingbirds (they will get into fights over the feeders throughout the spring and summer), we can see evidence of nesting activity among the seed-eating birds. The male finches have turned bright yellow. A male cardinal will court a female by offering her a sunflower seed.  Male mourning doves waddle purposefully after the ladies, who feign complete indifference.  It's a wonderful circus. 


29 comments:

  1. Seeing hummingbirds is always a special magical treat!

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    1. Hummingbirds could be the unicorns of the bird world.

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  2. Hummingbirds fascinate me. I've been lucky enough to see them buzzing around the complex off/on. Twice in last few days, I've seen one buzzing around my patio window, but haven't been quick enough to grab the phone and video it. Can't imagine what it's here for as there are no plants or water on my patio. But, I'm thinking about putting a water feeder out to attract so I can video. If I do that, do you know if it will attract unwanted pests to climb up, i.e., mice, lizards?

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    1. I wish I knew. I've never seen a mouse or lizard bother the hummingbird feeders, but we once saw a RAT gorging himself at the seed feeder. Not sure what we did to get rid of Mr. Rat, but it sure was a chilling sight.

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  3. I love watching hummingbirds hover.

    PipeTobacco

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    1. Their hovering is amazing. So are their attempts to drive off any competitor who approaches "their" feeder.

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  4. I've just recently gotten into feeding - two days ago in fact. Our backyard could double as a squirrel sanctuary so we spent good money (yikes) on a "squirrel proof" feeder (we got some good help from the Wild Birds Unlimited Store near our house, which had a very knowledgeable store clerk) and bought some safflower seeds. So far, the black capped chickadees are having a blast. A cardinal pair have been eyeing it but so far have only sampled the seeds the chickadees have scattered on the ground. And yes, I am enjoying the spring bird show!

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    1. Don't be too surprised if an "Einstein" squirrel figures out how to get into your squirrel proof feeder. It's been known to happen.

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  5. I was mesmerised by hummingbirds in Canada. As far as I know we don't have anything like them here. It would be great to see them in your own back yard.

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    1. On the ninth day, God said, "You can have either hummingbirds or kangaroos and wombats." Australia replied, "Kangaroos and wombats, please."

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  6. I've been listening to birds this last week of Mini Spring we had. It is gone now, but the birds don't care. They're many of them sitting on eggs already.

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    1. Our tiny patch of woods is full of singing birds.

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  7. Sounds like you have the perfect plan in place to keep all the birds happy and I did not know that bees and wasps will eat sugar water

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    1. Well, wasps like sugar water for sure. Now I'm wondering if instead of bees, I was seeing yellow jackets.

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  8. It's great to see the hummingbirds. We have a few in our neck of the woods.

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  9. No humingbirds yet in North Idaho.
    Coffee is on and stay safe

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    1. They'll be there soon, I'm sure. Dora, please stay safe as well.

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  10. I've tried putting out hummingbird feeders before and never had any luck. I would love to be able to attract them to my yard

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  11. I went online and looked up some information about humminbirds in your neck of the woods. They arrive in early May, about a month later than down here. I'd say put out your feeders again. You never know. Good luck!

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  12. We had a neighbor who was not particularly fastidious with their hummingbird feeders and they had the nectar ferment..... leading to tipsy hummingbirds!

    When I noticed it, I was initially worried because the hummingbirds have such a high metabolism I was afraid that during their tipsy state, they could go into torpor and be at risk. But, I watched some and it appeared ok.... and the neighbors began to change the nectar more faithfully once I mentioned what was occurring.

    :)

    PipeTobacco

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    1. I'm glad your neighbors began changing the nectar more often. According to the Audubon Society, a hummingbird can die from drinking fermented nectar.

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  13. I just put my feeder up in your neck of the woods - at least ten days late. I look forward to seeing them again. I got quite a few last year but hope for even more this year. Everyone: no red dye - terrible for hummers.

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  14. your comment today made me feel soooooo much better.... I AM NOT ALONE!!!!

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    1. That makes me happy, because I feel a little guilty about even mentioning it. :-)

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  15. I have only seen three so far this year, a really low number. And for all I know it has been the same bird, a male. I think the crazy, cold weather earlier in the spring might have hindered their appearance. Perhaps as we get more consistent warmer weather we will see them. Thanks for the nectar recipe. I would rather make mine myself than buy it.

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