How to Attract Hummingbirds to Your Garden

 

 

There are numerous things a home owner can do to make his or her garden humming-bird friendly. Comparatively easy adjustments can soon be rewarded by the presence of feeding humming birds as well as nesting females and their young ones.

 

Hummingbirds feed from nectar filled flowers and are important pollinators for many species. Planting a lot of suitable flower species in your garden is therefore a great way of attracting hummingbirds. Ideally include a lot of colourful blossoms, especially red ones since hummingbirds are known to be fascinated by the colour red. This is way a majority of the humming bird feeders are red. The recommended species flower will naturally depend on your geographical location, soil type, gardening skills etcetera.

 

Hummingbirds are preyed upon by many types of predatory birds and tree climbing snakes, and they can also fall prey to cats and other mammals. The Hummingbirds will therefore appreciate densely grown shrubs and bushes where they can stay hidden from above. There should preferably be a lot of twigs strong enough to support the tiny hummingbird, but weak enough to carry snakes and cats. By including such environments in your garden design, you may very well turn your garden into hummingbird territory. The hummingbirds might not only visit your garden to drink from a feeder; chances are that they will spend a lot of their time resting there too, especially if the surrounding gardens contains few suitable hiding spots for hummingbirds.

 

Offer the hummingbirds one or several feeders to drink from is naturally also an excellent way of making sure that you receive plenty of hummingbird visits. If the hummingbirds have trouble locating the feeder, you can hang the feeder next to some showy and colourful plants that can be easily seen from above. Using a red feeder is also a good idea, since the hummingbirds are known to investigate red objects. Once your hummingbirds have learned to associate hummingbird feeders with food, it is usually easy to make them understand that feeders of any colour contain food.

 

Using red dye in the hummingbird food is not necessary. Red food dye has been suspected of promoting tumour development in hummingbirds. The jury is still out on the subject, but until red food dye have been proven safe for hummingbirds, it is a good idea to stay clear of it. If your feeder is not red, you can instead place some red stickers on it to make the hummingbirds notice it.

 

You can often find hummingbird feeders for sale in garden depots, birding shops and department stores. If you fail to locate a vendor in your area, you can always order a hummingbird feeder from one of the many Internet shops that offer hummingbird feeders and food for sale online.

 

When you choose hummingbird feeder, it is important to pick one that is easy to clean. Hummingbirds are sensitive to mould and can be really sick if the ingest it. Hummingbird food will also ferment quite rapidly, especially in high temperatures. The feeder should therefore be cleaned frequently.

 

More information about humming birds and humming bird feeders.