Hummingbirds have arrived!

[bobbiwoz]

And caught me without my feeder up...so I'm boiling some food right now! Have you had sightings yet this year?

Bobbi

 

[Fastpassme]

Glad to see someone who is as obsessed as me! Caught my first one last week while I was admiring my lungwort (might sound kinky to non-gardeners)! We only get ruby-throated ones here, unfortunately. I'm very jealous of areas with more selection.

 

[UrsulasShadow]

We got our hummingbirds as soon as we started getting our hanging plants in...right before Mother's Day. Which means they must have been there earlier, but durned if I know what they were feeding on...must be all those folks with feeders luring them back early!

 

[Dismom+two]

I would LOVE to have hummingbirds!!! What will they eat that I can get to attract them??

 

[UrsulasShadow]

I would LOVE to have hummingbirds!!! What will they eat that I can get to attract them??

They sip nectar from tubular flowers, preferring red flowers, but certainly not limited to them. I find they love catmint (blue flowers), fuchsia, calibrachoa in red and pink (million bells), as well as sages (pineapple sage flowers bright red, and the hummies really go for it). Most plants from the mint family have tubular flowers, so will attract them. Tall red lobelia, which is native around here in swampy areas, is also a magnet. Red flowered honeysuckle, dipladenia and campsis vine (trumpet vine) seem to lure them. They are not averse to sipping from hanging petunias. Bee balm is very attractive to them. I'm sure there's many more.

 

[Dismom+two]

Thank you so much for that wonderful list of plants!! I think I now need to go shopping for more plants!!! I do have Cat Mint down my my mailbox...I know the neighborhood cats love it too!!

I just planted a wonderful Butterfly bush so I should get some nice butterflies too!

Thanks again!

 

[party of 3]

my husband was so happy to hear that other people love the hummingbirds as much as him. really. he has 3 feeders in the front of the house on the open porch and they fight over the food. each feeder has 4 spots to eat from and sometimes they are all full at the same time. really. it's amazing. now my sister in law who lives 15 minutes away cant get one hummingbird in her yard at all. she's very jealous about it. she's a huge gardener and it drives her crazy. so needless to say we torment her about it ALL the time!!!!

 

[jann1033]

we've had a few hummingbirds although not as many as last yr yet and had a bunch of oriels , but our latest "different" bird we have seen so far are an indigo bunting and i am pretty sure we have a scarlet tanager( husband and i have both seen it once at the feeders) i took a photo of the bunting

.

 

[jann1033]

I would LOVE to have hummingbirds!!! What will they eat that I can get to attract them??

we have had the best success with putting out hummingbird feeders as they will come really close to the house once they get used to it...you can buy them pretty much in any store and can buy either nector mixes or heat 1 part sugar to 4 parts water till the sugar dissolves then fill the feeders with that. just make sure you change it ever week or so till you start seeing the birds or it will ferment

 

[bobbiwoz]

I enjoyed the picture of the indigo bunting, thanks for posting.

We spent last Thursday at the Mirage in Las Vegas and I saw a hummingbird on some sort of trumpet flower that grew there, yellow! The pool area really is an oasis in the desert!

Bobbi