You put a fresh sugar water hummingbird feeder in the yard and hang it up while waiting for birds to come. Several days pass, and you see nothing at all, while a neighbor down the road has five hummingbirds flying around the porch. How annoying!
Bring Hummingbirds Right To Your Window!
Check PriceInstead of thinking you purchased the wrong brand of feeder or picked the wrong location, relax. There’s a chance the feeder isn’t the problem. Hummingbirds are searching for a complete habitat, instead, which you can create without breaking the bank on new equipment.
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The Real Draw: Habitat Over Hardware
Sugar water from a nectar feeder may give a quick burst of energy, but it is only a temporary food source for the birds. Your yard may become a quick stop for passing hummingbirds if all you offer is sugar water, so just like a fast food restaurant, they will move on to find a better habitat that provides the things they need. If you want to get them to stay, you need to provide the things they use to survive.
Factor 1: The Need for Tiny Insects
Sugar water fuels a hummingbird, but protein builds their muscles and feeds their young. Hummingbirds eat hundreds of tiny insects every day. They hunt for fruit flies, gnats, aphids, and small spiders. If a yard is perfectly manicured and completely free of bugs, it is a food desert for a hummingbird. Leaving a little wildness in your garden provides the protein these birds desperately need.
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Factor 2: Continuous Native Blooms
Bright red feeders catch a bird’s eye, but native plants tell them they have found a reliable territory. Hummingbirds have evolved alongside native tubular flowers. Planting a few native perennials like columbine, bee balm, or cardinal flower works wonders. The trick is to choose plants that bloom at different times of the year. When you stagger your bloom times, you provide a continuous food source that keeps hummingbirds coming back month after month.
Factor 3: Safe Perches and Shelter
You may be surprised that about eighty percent of a hummingbird’s day is spent sitting still. Resting enables them to digest their food. Also, they need places to hide from predators and from bad weather. If your yard has only a feeder and a flat lawn, they may feel exposed. However, adding some shrubs or leaving some dead branches on a nearby tree will give the birds the perfect vantage point to defend their favorite feeder.
Factor 4: The Chemical Free Zone
It’s easy and very important to keep hummingbirds safe by skipping pesticides. Hummingbirds need the little bugs that pesticides kill for protein. Pesticides are even worse for birds; if they eat a bug that has been poisoned or comes in contact with any leaves that have been sprayed, they can become very sick.
Your Weekend Action Plan
You don’t have to do the whole yard in one day. If you want to start making your yard look good, you can do it this weekend. It’s easy and cheap!
- Do not use chemical pesticides. If we allow the natural insect population to recover, the birds will have something to hunt.
- Do not disturb spider webs. Hummingbirds use spider silk to construct their nests. Next time you see a web in the corner of a garden, leave it there.
- Plant one native perennial. Visit a local nursery and pick up a native nectar plant. Place it in the ground or in a pot near your feeder to act as a natural beacon.
Hummingbird Yard Audit Checklist
Take a stroll in your yard and tick off the features that you have. The more boxes you check, the more appealing your yard will be for hummingbirds.
- Native Flowers: I have at least one native tubular flowering plant in my garden.
- Protein Sources: I let tiny insects like gnats and aphids stay in my garden.
- Nesting Material: I leave spider webs in the corners of my garden and in the trees.
- Safe Perches: I have shrubs, trees, or tall plants where birds can rest and hide.
- Chemical Free: I do not apply broad spectrum pesticides or herbicides in my yard.
Tegarbed 25 OZ Glass Hummingbird Feeder
Check PricePatience Pays Off
Building a friendly environment takes a bit of time. Birds will take time to find your yard, and plants will take time to grow. However, once a hummingbird realizes your garden provides adequate shelter, a variety of insects, and consistent nectar, it will stay forever! As long as you maintain your feeder, add some local plants, and keep working at it, you will have a wonderful bird sanctuary!