Gardening Sweet Spots
By Donna Hessel
Doesn’t this poem by an anonymous author characterize a hummingbird perfectly?
Emerald plumed, ruby-throated,
Flashing like a fair star
Where the humid, dew-becoated,
Sun-illumined blossoms are —
See the fleet hummingbird!
Hark to his humming, heard loud as the whirr of a fairy king’s car!
Slightliest, sprighliest, lightest, and brightest one,
Child of the summer sun,
Shining afar!
The Ruby Throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris)
This is the species of hummingbird you’ll see most often in our area. Males have a ruby-red throat, a white collar, an emerald green back and a forked tail. Females have a green back and tail feathers that are banded in white, black and gray-green. Males arrive in late April or early May to stake out feeding territories. Females arrive about two weeks later. Most males leave toward the end of September; females and juveniles follow about two weeks later.
A hummingbird’s brilliant throat color is not caused by feather pigmentation, but by iridescence in the arrangement of the feathers and the influence of light level and moisture. Hummers have 1,000-1,500 feathers, the fewest number of feathers of any bird species in the world. The average weight of a ruby-throated hummingbird is three grams. For comparison, a nickel weighs 4.5 grams.
A hummer’s maximum forward flight speed is 30 miles per hour. Its wings beat between 50 and 200 flaps per second. In a slow motion video of a hovering hummer, I discovered that they do not flap their wings up and down but move them in a swiveling motion, much like swimming in the air, to remain in place to feed. It can fly backward and upside-down! A hummer must consume approximately half of its weight in sugar daily. The average hummingbird feeds 5-8 times per hour. They have no sense of smell, but have very keen eyesight. It’s a myth that they eat only from red flowers. In fact, hummers are attracted to red, but will eat from any color of nectar-producing flower. They also feed insects to their young. They do not suck nectar through their long bills. They lick it with fringed, forked tongues, 10-15 times per second. They digest natural sucrose in 20 minutes with 97% efficiency, converting the sugar into energy.
An average hummer’s heart rate is more than 1,200 beats per minute. At rest, it takes an average of 250 beats per minute. Hummers’ average life span is 3.5 years. They lay the smallest eggs of all birds, measuring less than a half-inch long, but may represent as much as 10% of the mother’s weight at the time the eggs are laid. A hummer’s nest is about the size of a quarter.
Now that you know all about them, how do you attract them to your yard?
Plant what they like. These flowers are easy to grow and look great. Salvia (especially the blue varieties) is a great plant to start with. Add monarda (bee balm), cuphea vermillionaire, penstemon, digitalis (foxglove) and agastache and you will be off to a great start. Coral bells, columbine, fuschia, cardinal flower, bleeding heart and turtlehead are also popular. Honeysuckle and weigela are favorite shrubs, and trumpet vines with their trumpet shaped flowers are a definite attraction.
Protect them. While it seems like hummers are constantly moving, they do rest and nest. They prefer a safe perch and are attracted to small limbs and bare branches. The hummers in my yard seem to prefer the willow trees for nesting.
Encourage spiders. Ewww, right? But hummingbirds love to use spider webs when building their nests. Leave newly spun webs alone. They may be just the nest-building material your hummers are looking for.
Provide feeding stations for them. Hang feeders in late April or early May before the first hummers arrive. Clean feeders (rinse with hot water to prevent growth of mold) every time you change the nectar. Change the nectar every 3-4 days. You may need to do it more often in hot weather. Fill feeders less than half full so the nectar can be drunk before it needs to be changed. You can attach a red ribbon or flower to the feeder to attract the hummers, or hang it near blooming flowers.
If you hang it in a shady area, fewer yellow jackets will be attracted to it. You can also purchase ant traps to attach to a feeder to prevent ants from reaching the nectar. Hummers don’t like to share! If you hang more than one feeder, space them far apart because males are territorial and will fight for exclusivity. Remove feeders in late September after hummingbirds have migrated.
You can find many styles of feeders available commercially, but you can also make your own from a bottle, feeder tip and sturdy wire, as shown in this photo. (Feeder tips are available from Amazon.)
It’s very simple to make the nectar solution to add to your feeders. Here’s the recipe:
1 part sugar
4 parts water
Boil 1-2 minutes
Cool & store in refrigerator
Never use honey, brown sugar or artificial sweeteners! Honey ferments easily and can cause sores in a hummer’s mouth. Artificial sweeteners have no food value. DO NOT use red food coloring in your solution.
I’ve seen photos of hummingbirds perched on a person’s finger feeding from a hand-held “feeder button” and I’ve read incredible stories of human and hummingbird interaction. They do seem to get used to being around people if feeders are hung on decks or house windows. I prefer to watch them at a distance, however, and just marvel at and appreciate their speed and delicacy!
Photo credits: Bottle Feeder – Pinterest; Hummingbird – pexels.com
