stevenpiziks (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stevenpiziks) wrote2009-04-06 12:11 am
stevenpiziks) wrote2009-04-06 12:11 am
Entry tags:
Hummingbirds
This week I'm going to get some hummingbird feeders.
Early last fall, I was looking out the kitchen window and I saw a ruby-throated hummingbird hovering just beyond the glass. I just had time to blink before it darted away. I didn't know we got hummingbirds around here, but now that I do, I want to bring them around.
On-line research was, once again, my friend. I learned how to make hummingbird feeder syrup (1 part sugar to 4 parts water). I uncovered the Great Red Dye Debate, which reminds me of the Great Autism Vaccine Debate. Red, you see, attracts hummingbirds, since that's the color of some of their favorite flowers, and people often color the syrup in their feeders to encourage the birds. Hummingbird enthusiasts warn that red food coloring doesn't harm humans but there's no evidence that it doesn't harm hummingbirds, and most of the web sites order you not to put red food coloring into hummingbird syrup. "The feeders are usually painted red where the syrups comes out," they say. "Or you can tie a red ribbon around your feeder."
Interestingly, there's absolutely no evidence that red food coloring DOES harm hummingbirds, either.
I probably won't color the syrup simply because it'll be cheaper.
I also learned that it's a good idea to place a couple-three feeders around the yard, but not in view of each other. Put one in the front yard and one in the back, or two feeders around the corner from each other, and so on. Hummingbirds are territorial and one bird will try to drive other birds away from multiple feeders if it can see them at the same time.
Hummingbirds arrive in this area in mid- to late April, and it's a good idea to put feeders out a couple weeks before then to establish early that your yard is the place to go for free eats. Weather allowing, I'll head out tomorrow and see what I can find.
Early last fall, I was looking out the kitchen window and I saw a ruby-throated hummingbird hovering just beyond the glass. I just had time to blink before it darted away. I didn't know we got hummingbirds around here, but now that I do, I want to bring them around.
On-line research was, once again, my friend. I learned how to make hummingbird feeder syrup (1 part sugar to 4 parts water). I uncovered the Great Red Dye Debate, which reminds me of the Great Autism Vaccine Debate. Red, you see, attracts hummingbirds, since that's the color of some of their favorite flowers, and people often color the syrup in their feeders to encourage the birds. Hummingbird enthusiasts warn that red food coloring doesn't harm humans but there's no evidence that it doesn't harm hummingbirds, and most of the web sites order you not to put red food coloring into hummingbird syrup. "The feeders are usually painted red where the syrups comes out," they say. "Or you can tie a red ribbon around your feeder."
Interestingly, there's absolutely no evidence that red food coloring DOES harm hummingbirds, either.
I probably won't color the syrup simply because it'll be cheaper.
I also learned that it's a good idea to place a couple-three feeders around the yard, but not in view of each other. Put one in the front yard and one in the back, or two feeders around the corner from each other, and so on. Hummingbirds are territorial and one bird will try to drive other birds away from multiple feeders if it can see them at the same time.
Hummingbirds arrive in this area in mid- to late April, and it's a good idea to put feeders out a couple weeks before then to establish early that your yard is the place to go for free eats. Weather allowing, I'll head out tomorrow and see what I can find.