Ideally, the feeder should be no more than 10 to 15 feet away from a tree or large shrub that offers the hummingbirds a spot to perch while conserving energy or hiding from potential predators. The best spot to hang your feeder is a location that’s easy for you to see-you’ll want to enjoy your feathered visitors, after all-but not so exposed that the birds feel insecure. Wipe away any solution from the outside of the feeder before hanging it outdoors. It’s best to do the pouring over the sink to catch any sugary drips. Use a funnel, if you need one, to pour the nectar into your hummingbird feeder. RELATED: 14 Approaches to a DIY Birdbath STEP 3: Fill the feeder and choose the best location. Mix your nectar solution thoroughly until all sugar is completely dissolved, and let the nectar cool to room temperature. The sugar doesn’t have to be red for hummingbirds to find it, and many wildlife and bird specialists feel that red coloring might be harmful to the hummer’s health. There is no need to add supplemental vitamins or red food coloring, either. Increase or decrease the quantities as desired, but make sure you stick to the 1:4 ratio. The correct ratio of sugar to water is 1:4, or ¼ cup of sugar to 1 cup of hot water. Use regular refined white sugar, not honey, artificial sweeteners, brown sugar, or other sugar products, all of which can be difficult for hummingbirds to digest. Once you have your hot water, it’s time to add sugar. If you don’t have a garden or you just want to admire your feathered visitors up close, consider installing a hummingbird feeder filled with the high-calorie, sugary nectar these birds need to survive. Some hummingbird favorites include lantana, bee balm, foxglove, salvias, lupine, flowering tobacco, petunias, and zinnias. The most effective way to draw these nectar-hungry birds to your yard is by planting the flowers they naturally seek out, which are typically tubular-shaped blooms in bright red, pink, purple, or orange. To match that, you’d need to consume roughly 150,000 calories each day. To maintain their enormous need for energy, the average hummingbird consumes between 1.5 and 8 times its body weight each day in sugar. Their incredibly fast metabolism is the highest of any animal on earth: A hummingbird’s heart can beat an astounding 1,200 times per minute, their wings can flap over 50 times per second (which is what creates the buzzing or humming sound that gives these birds their common name), they reach speeds of 25 to 30 mph in flight, and their long tongues can dip in and out of a flower or feeder 18 times per second. Anna’s hummingbird is one of the few species that doesn’t regularly migrate and remains year-round in North America, mostly along the Pacific coast.Īlthough hummingbirds do eat tiny insects and spiders, and also feast on sap and pollen, it’s nectar that makes up the bulk of their diet. The ruby-throated hummingbird is one of the very few that travels to the eastern half of North America, while in the west, you might see rufous, Costa’s, Allen’s, or black-chinned hummingbirds. There are around 300 species of hummingbirds, but only a handful venture north of South America and when they do, it’s typically during the summertime. Like tiny flying jewels, hummingbirds are a treat to observe zipping, perching, or sipping in your garden.
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