We Got a Hummingbird Feeder
So on the Sunday before last I bought a hummingbird feeder. It was something of a Father’s Day present to myself. The Wild Birds Unlimited store was having a 25% off sale so it would have been foolish not to buy one.
We set it up on that same day and five days later we saw the first hummingbirds coming to feed. They were Ruby Throated Hummingbirds, which is the only kind of hummingbird in this part of the world.
Up until now I’ve relied only on plants in the garden to attract hummingbirds. Annuals like Cigar Plant (Cuphea ignea – pictured above with female Ruby Throat), Starflower (Pentas lanceolata), and various Salvias. Also perennials like Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) and Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis).
Incidentally, the picture above was taken by Judy one or two years ago.
Prior to setting up the feeder, though, I had seen only one hummingbird so far this year. I just got impatient.
The feeder needs to be filled with a 1:4 solution of sugar and water. The solution doesn’t need to be boiled, just heated on the stove as the sugar dissolves. It can be stored in the refrigerator.
You can buy Hummingbird nectar, but it is ridiculously expensive for sugar water.
The main thing about Hummingbird feeders is you have to change the solution regularly. According to the guy at the store, every two to three days. Also, the feeders need to be washed now and then. The one I bought can be washed in the dishwasher.
When I asked how often they should be washed, I was told often enough to keep them from getting sticky and crusty.
I’m pleased with our Hummingbird feeder. Hummingbirds are such tiny, amazing creatures, and for me they are part of the summer experience.
Do you have a hummingbird feeder? What are your favorite plants for attracting Hummingbirds?
We have only one this year it seems. We normally only have 2 or 3 anyway. It is so odd to only have 1 regular this year. We took down our feeder earlier in the spring. It seemed silly to have to change the feeder every other day in the heat we were having and not have anyone using it. When the hummers are here they go to the salvias and honeysuckle the most it seems. They also love the hosta blooms. They vie with the bumble bees for the hosta blooms. It is fun to watch. We keep two feeders. One hanging outside and the other inside all cleaned up and ready to exchange for the used one.
Great idea to have a clean feeder in the house ready to go…
Good idea. We’re really not sure how many individuals are visiting our feeder. I think probably two, but there is never more than one at a time.
Your feeder looks just like mine. Water well in the middle keeps the ants out. It has been great for hummers for several years. Why this year I don’t see them I can’t explain, but I keep at it. I’ve only seen Ruby Throated hummers here.
I didn’t know that about the water well.
Hi Jason, I have two feeders that I keep up year round as our ‘Anna’ hummingbirds stay will us through winter. The Rufus hummingbirds have arrived and they are quite greedy and territorial. I like having two feeders so that the ladies can sneak a drink in. I grow three varieties of phygelius for the hummers and am now up to 4 different patches of monarda ‘jacob cline’. I have been growing verbena bonariensis for the butterflies but am delighted to have seen the hummers this year drink them up. I like to grow the higher reaching flowers for the hummers because of my cats. Damn cats.
I have lots of Monarda but it doesn’t seem to attract hummers that much. I didn’t know they like Verbena bonariensis.
Beautiful photos! I haven’t seen Ruby Throated Hummingbirds, so that is a treat. As your reader Jenni has said, cats are always a problem, we lost some beautiful Crimson Rosellas to cats so we are watchful now.
Yes, cats can be a BIG problem! Ours passed away several years ago and was not replaced, so not something we have to deal with currently.
We start seeing hummers around the first of April and then more as the summer heats up. I love watching them.
They are so much fun to watch. They first show up here in May but become more common with the warmer weather here as well.
I was just given a humming bird feeder for Mother’s Day. So far, we have one greedy regular and a few wanna-be regulars that get chased off! I see them feeding on my Kniphofia ‘Timothy’, Abutilon megapotamicum, and the Hesperaloe parviflora on the hell strip. I just bought a Dicliptera sericea that’s also supposed to be a favorite. We’ll see. Enjoy the feeding frenzy!
Those hummers are cute but they seem to have very bad manners!
No humming birds in Europe so blogs are the only way to see them. Thanks for sharing. I was a bit surprised that the birds could land on your feeder rather than hovering.
They can feed while perching or while hovering, which is a good thing because you get a better view when they perch.
Hummingbirds are so beautiful, I wish we had them over here. I’ve only ever seen them in aviaries, you are so lucky to have them in your garden.
I do feel lucky to have them.
I think that’s a great idea, as they will see what delicious plants you have got for them too once they visit your garden! Hope you see more. We have hardly had any butterflies or hawk moths this year (I have spotted literally 5 or 6)- very worrying.
We do sometimes see them on our plants, but only once so far this year.
You’ve got a very useful gift to yourself, Jason.
Yes, I like it!
We have 4 feeders up on our property but also a variety of plants they love. Blooming right now are monarda, salvias, bottlebrush buckeye, zinnias, hostas, coral honeysuckle, trumpet vine. We have several hummers now but it’s the late summer/early fall when we have the highest numbers. I fill feeders 2 times a day and make LOTS of sugar water.
Four feeders, wow! You are a dedicated soul!
Michigan…I too have fed hummers for years. I’m concerned this year as I’ve had few sightings. Butterfly and bees are absent too. My monarda are starting to blossom maybe I’ll see more but I really feel something has happened to the climate/environment. I’m thinking canary in the coal mine.
It is concerning. I hope you see more bees and hummers soon.
I have two, and when we sit on the patio, we can watch those little beauties zip back and forth between trees and feeder. Love to watch them!
Me too!
Great pictures. I should have made a run down to Wild Birds when I saw the sale… I didn’t even think of the hummingbirds. Shame on me, but there’s still time to make amends!
It’s not too late!
That looks like an interesting and effective design. At our old house we had a feeder for hummingbirds, but now I rely on the flowers. I’ve been spotting one nearly every day especially around the cleome.
That sounds wonderful. I don’t think I’ve noticed them around Cleome.
Our regulars suck up that juice so quickly that we never have to think about a schedule for cleaning the feeder. They become annoyed if we neglect replacing it. Annas are here year-round, with yearly visits from Rufous (which are very combative little guys).
That sounds like fun. I hear the Ruby Throats can be combative but I’ve never seen it.
If a hummingbird visited our garden we’d be on the TV news. How brilliant to have these wonderful creatures in your garden ā I’ve never seen one in the wild.
Another reason for a visit to some American gardens.
I have a feeder and have refilled it three times so far but haven’t seen a hummingbird yet. š¦ Thanks for sharing your photos because those may be the only ones I see this year.
Well, I hope they show up for you soon.
We have a feeder outside the kitchen window. We actually use two feeders: when I need to change the nectar, I fill the clean one and switch it out for the used one. Then I can wash it when I get time, and store it for the next change. That’s an awesome photo Judy took š
Yes, she’s a talented photographer.
What a nice little bird. We donĀ“t have hummingbirds in Denmark. It must nice to watch them feed outside your window.
They’re a lot of fun to watch.
I don’t need a feeder. I have over 200 hostas and hummingbirds love them.
That’s a lot of Hostas!
Yes, but like daylilies they should be divided every few years. I’ve given so many away nobody wants anymore.
I have the same feeder. My hummers like the Monarda the best. Bad news for my female hummingbird. The crows raided her nest and I saw the mother crow taking a baby hummingbird to her babies. It was very sad.
Oh, how awful! The hummers seem to avoid the Monarda in our garden.
St. Louis—I have a pair (I assume) that come by each year. I love hearing their song and the buzzzzz as they zip by me. Just tonight, the male came to my feeder (a bottle type one, el cheapo) as I was watering the garden. I would like to get another one, like your new one.
I was so surprised the first time I watched them sit still on a telephone line!
I have never noticed their song, I didn’t know they had one.
My ‘hummingbird feeder’ is the dense spires of coral bells (Heuchera ‘Raspberry Regal’) blooming outside my front porch — which provides a great place for viewing the action. Mostly, I only get one hummingbird at a time (always the same one?) feeding at my flowers. The one time two showed up simultaneously, one immediately chased the other off.
Plants are the best feeders. Deep down I feel like putting out sugar water is like cheating – but I couldn’t help myself.
What a great investment, I’m sure you’ll attract many more once they latch onto it. I was in the museum today and saw a hummingbird exhibition, I was truly astonished to see how tiny some of them are. They are such stunning little creatures, how I wish we had them.xxx
Some are much more colorful than the ones we have here. They have been called flying jewels, for good reason.