Hummingbirds: Putting Up Feeders

There are various ways in which you can attract hummingbirds to your garden or living areas. One way is to plant flowers which they will find attractive, and another is to put up a bird house for them. You can also put up simpler feeders, or glass hummingbird feeders.

If you want to put up a feeder in your garden for hummingbirds, you need to be aware that they do not like to share meals. Other birds are happy to share a source of food, but hummingbirds are actually quite possessive of theirs.

This means that if you are going to put up a feeder for hummingbirds, you will actually have to put up several of them around the garden.

As well as being possessive of their food, hummingbirds are also defensive of their territory. They are very good at locating a food source and finding it again and again. This means that you can put your feeders anywhere in your garden, even near an office balcony or near the roof top, and they will find it.

With regard to location:

It helps hummingbirds to access feeders if they are located so that the birds can feed comfortably whilst hanging onto a tree branch.

It is a good idea to attract the birds while they are migrating, so do some research on the internet with regard to the habits of hummingbirds, and you should get some good ideas, with regard to location.

With regard to timing:

Early spring is a good time to put up feeders, which you can then leave out until the end of the season. Once the birds have moved on to other places then you need to take the feeders down, so that they do not become damaged. They can then be cleaned, refilled, and maybe even re-decorated ready for use in the next season.

Feeder types:

Your feeders can be as simple or as intricate as you want. They can be made of a bottle or glass, a tube or simply out of wood. Your choice of material depends on your budget and your personal taste. If you have the patience, you can make the feeders yourself. There are usually holes in the feeders through which the nectar can be reached by the birds.

When you are choosing the type of feeder to place in your garden, be sure to choose a type which is easy to maintain and to clean, as well as to install in the first place.

Making the nectar:

It is quite easy to make the nectar to place in your bird feeder. Just make a mixture which is four parts water to one part sugar, and cool. Then pour the mixture into your feeder, and wait for the birds to arrive!

It is an amazing sight, watching the tiny hummingbirds come to your garden and sip the nectar from the feeders you have placed there for them.