Want to Learn How to Feed Hummingbirds in Your Backyard?
You can do various things to your garden to make it hummingbird friendly and attract more of these birds. Even if you stay in the city's middle and didn't have any luck getting these birds in the past, you can soon have them around your garden by following some simple steps.
The diet of hummingbirds consists of insects, flower nectar or artificial sugar water. Thus, artificial sugar water solution can be kept in your garden to attract them. The hummingbirds do not have any sense of smell and they rely on sites to find their source of food. If you are making a first attempt to feed the birds, you can hang or plant some red flowers near the feeder. The hummingbirds will be attracted to these red flowers and will easily find the feeders.
You should remember that none of the above mentioned plants needs to be red colored, though red color is attractive to the hummingbirds. After growing the plants, avoid using pesticides for killing the insects as the insects can serve as good sources of protein to the birds. The pesticides if ingested by the hummers can kill or sicken them.
Setting up hummingbird feeders is a very popular method to attract hummingbirds to the garden. You can use the homemade nectar solution of sugar water in the feeders to feed the birds. Hanging some red flowers or planting them near the feeders will make the hummingbirds easily find the feeders.
Using red colored hummingbird feeders in your garden will attract more of these birds. An artificial red flower or band can be tied to the feeder if you feel the feeder doesn't have enough red in it. But, using of red food colors in the nectar solution should be avoided as they are found to be harmful to the birds. Sometimes, the male hummingbirds try to exert their dominance and drive away the other hummers if you have fewer feeders in your garden. You can prevent this by adding several other feeders around the garden and bring more hummingbirds to your garden.
Avoid using pesticides in your hummingbird garden as they can kill or sicken the birds if consumed. Also, the insects you want to kill off can serve as good protein source to the birds. Sometimes, the male hummingbirds may try to chase away the other hummers from the feeders. To prevent this you can add several other feeders to your garden.
Planting some of the favorite plants of hummingbirds will also attract them to your garden. Some of these plants include honeysuckles, petunias, trumpet vine, fuchsias, lilacs, bee balm, geraniums, manzanita, azaleas, butterfly busch, mimosa, columbine, salvia and Indian paintbrush. You can ask your local nursery or garden store for the other plants which grow well in your area. Do not use pesticides on these plants as they can sicken or kill the hummers, if ingested.
