Via RSS feed.May 24th, 2008
The Hummingbirds are Back!
For the past few weeks I have been wondering about the hummingbirds. When are they coming back? Should I put out the nectar for them? When should I prepare for their arrival. Well - today was the day! Most of my readers live further south than we do, so they likely have their hummingbirds back already.
So this morning, shortly after breakfast, who did we see out our window? (Our house is designed for passive solar, so all of our windows are on the south side -long side- of our home and are quite large, we hang our feeder outside of one of the large windows in our kitchen.) It was one of the mamma ruby throated hummingbirds from last year!
How could I tell she was a repeat customer? Well she flew up to the window the feeder normally hangs at, buzzed around for a time, looking at us inside the house it seemed, then she flew to the next window, buzzed around and looked at us again before flying away.
So - I knew it was time to pull out the feeder at long last. I’m just glad she came by to announce her return! I actually felt flattered that she remembered us, er, our feeder. Last year we had two - three hummingbird couples feeding at our house - not many, but enough to entertain our little ones. I have stayed in places where they have a dozen or more regular hummingbird customers at their hanging restaurant.
So, here’s how we do it, if you’ve never fed hummingbirds before:
1. Buy yourself a feeder, the cheap red plastic ones are fine, that’s what we have!
2. Boil 1 cup of water.
3. Dissolve 1/4 cup of white sugar in the water (we buy it just for the birds, we normally eat the unbleached oranic type ourselves).
4. Wait for the syrup to cool.
5. Pour into your feeder with a funnel.
6. Hang!
It may take the birds awhile to find your feeder, and you might not even know if hummingbirds are in your area until you put one out. But if there are hummingbirds anywhere around, they will certainly find you! We don’t have a flower garden yet, or else I would be providing appealing nectar providing plants for the birds as well. As it is, the syrup is a supplement to their diet, they know where the flowers are ;). This is a good activity for urban homesteaders as well, you don’t need much space, all you need are the birds.
Belle
May 27th, 2008 at 12:48 am
I love the humming birds too! They are so facinating to watch! When I am outside they buzz up really close to my head, sometimes I don’t know whether it is a humming bird or a bee!
My mom uses the recipe that you do to make humming bird nectar.
I enjoyed reading your post! I thought it was very interesting! I found our blog through the homesteading carnival.
Belle
Above is asks for my website, I put my blogspot blog there. I also have a blog at homesteadblogger. Here is my homesteadblogger blog - http://www.homesteadblogger.com/homesteadiing/
Belles last blog post..Lavender Soap
Grandma Rosie
May 27th, 2008 at 1:04 am
Thanks so much for sending this great post to the 51st Homesteading Carnival.
Carole
May 28th, 2008 at 11:47 am
I enjoy the little hummers myself. I live in the south so have had them around for a couple of months. I have a feeder outside my office window and snap pictures of them frequently. Occasionally I get a few good ones and share them on my blog as well.
I enjoyed reading your experiences with the little birds.
Quiver Mamma
May 28th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
Thanks for coming by ladies! I have a bit of an update! These little birds are not shy at all! They ran out of nectar the other day so I brought in the feeder to wash and fill. A few birds came by to look for the feeder, temporarily missing - and when I went out to hang it again one of the males came and drank out of it while I was hanging it! I’m sure if I sat outside with it in my lap they would come drink there too!
JMcQ
June 2nd, 2008 at 3:23 am
Hummingbirds amaze me. I live in Arizona where we have an abundance of hummingbirds. I keep 3 feeders out all the time and this spring we have had the opportunity to see hummingbird pairs doing their mating dance. The first time we were wondering what on earth the little bird was doing when he was doing aerial acrobatics only about 3 feet off the ground. Then we saw the gal he was trying to impress sitting down low in the chain link fence. The next time the impressive display was high in the air as the intended was sitting up in the tree.
I, too, have had the birds approach right up close while reaching up to hang the feeder. Hummingbirds are incredible!