Hummingbird Watch

[ginha]

I didn't get to do a lot of Falcon Watching this year so I spent some time with the Hummers. Got some good shots.

ginha

[Bobbie Ireland]

Oh, Ginha, how I miss these little guys! Did you happen to see my post re Hummingbird Hawk Moths (Bob Marcotte)? People who see them here swear they have seen a hummingbird.

[Donna]

Ginha, what a great shot. Lucky you!! WOW!!  

[margaret]

Beautiful shot of  your hummer, ginha!. Lucky you.  I tried for years to attract them with the right kind of feeder, the right kind of flowers, but saw few.  My neighbor attracts them by the "flock"   and I see more hummers  now than I ever did.  Funny thing is,  I used the  red colored hummer feeding stuff, and my neighbor just made her own sugar water.   

[valhalla]

Great catch Ginha!  I now have so many menu options outside that the hummers are only sometimes at the feeders 

Margaret - these are the feeders we use: Aspects HummZinger Little Fancy Hummingbird Feeder  - they are a bit pricey, but the work.  Plain old sugar water works great in these things.

[Patti from Kentucky]

Margaret...we really had good luck with hummingbirds once we started having a colorful flower garden easily seen from the air, but it sounds like you've already tried that.  One particular plant my hummers go gaga over is called Black and Blue Salvia (Salvia guaranitica).  The flowers seem to bring them in and the feeder gives them a bonus.  They carry this plant at all our local nurseries, though it comes in later than our usual spring annuals (here we start seeing it in the garden shops about May 12th or so, when most Kentuckians have already done their spring planting by the first weekend of May).

Word from the experts is that plain sugar water is healthier...or at least it works just as well and the scientists just aren't sure that the red food coloring is harmless.

We use this HummZinger feeder: http://www.hummzinger.com/mini.htm
It's extremely easy to keep clean; I keep two of them that I rotate daily...I bring one in from outside that goes in the dishwasher and hang the new one.  It's been really hot here, and my feeder's in the sun, so I really have to change the nectar every day during the summer.  I mix up about a 10-day supply of sugar water, keep it in the fridge, and pour about 4 ounces or so into the fresh, clean feeder every night.

I've attached a photo of one of my birds on the Salvia Guaranitica:

[margaret]

Thank you Patti and ginha for inspiring met to try to attrach the hummers again!