Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Hummingbirds

Put garden pot with some red or white Petunias in it and place it near the Hummingbird feeder's. It seems to attract them a little. We have a ton on our deck every year. All Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds. They aren't up here in Northern Wisconsin yet, but in a week or two we will be loaded. The previous posts are good. Dissolve some sugar in hot water and change it after a week. Don't need coloring. I hear that it's toxic to Hummingbirds. Hey, hatari, Maybe all the Humingbirds migrating through are all Yankee's and the Confederate Hummingbirds are coming later. lol

I've heard that several times but my birds must not have gotten that memo because I have a black feeder that they're all over.
Sugar water's definitely the way to go....the sweeter the better.
I have another bumper crop of the little free loaders this year....running four feeders and at least two need refilling every day.

Same thing happened to me one afternoon while my wife and I were sitting on a yard swing chatting. At the time I was wearing a mostly solid red baseball cap that had a little yellowish gold emblem on the center-front. All of a sudden wife bugs her eyes and starts pointing at my head and laughing. A male hummingbird was barely an inch or two away zeroed in on the little emblem.

I found a hummer trapped in a big black and yellow garden spider's web once. Thought it was a big moth at first but took a closer look and realized it wasn't a moth.

Pulled it out and removed all the spider web from it I could, looked like it was already too late as it offered on resistance, head was limp and body a bit cold.

Figuring there was nothing to loose I stuck it's beak into the nectar feeder hole thinking maybe it wasn't all of the way dead yet but soon would be of exhaustion from struggling trying to break free of the web and not being able feed. After a few tries it actually started to take a little nectar.

A few more shots of go juice and it was back 99%.. I opened my hand and it sat there for a minute or so then flew off like nothing ever happened.

I've read since that hummingbirds use spider web material in building their nest.

That ain't water, that's syrup.

I feed them all year long. I use the 2:1 recipe also. I have 4 feeders out now, in a month I might add one or two. When they're thick I can cover the perches with my hands and they'll land on my hands to feed.




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I had my feeder out for a week, and no visitors yet,

Living in the timber there's no shortage of spiders so that might explain why I have so many Hummers.

Hummies do use spider webs for some of their next material, mostly as a soft lining. But they build the bulk of the nest from small twigs, moss, and other materials. I put out a red mesh bag with some dryer lint and short pieces of thread/string, and they pick the fibers out through the mesh.

My Norwegian Elkhounds are shedding. They should have enough nesting material to make a Park Avenue skyscraper.

I see a lot of lichen nest building material, and as you mentioned spider web lining.

Cool. I never knew what their nests looked like.

Here is a concerned mama trying to lead me away from her nest.

That's a killdeer, not a hummingbird, of course.

It seems like the closer you are to nesting cover the more birds you get. Our house and feeder is out in the open and we generally only get about a half dozen birds. The neighbor up the street has a line of willows next to a ditch and they'll have a dozen or more birds going at once.

Hatari, we are in Florida.
The red throted hummers are native.
We see some migrating birds occasionally.

Hatari,
We are in Florida.
The red throted hummers are native.
We see some migrating birds occasionally.

We planted some Fire bush plants to attract the birds, and we keep a feeder out always

Mine might be stale food. I'll change it tonight and see who flys in for dinner.

Having the right flowers around helps too. Honeysuckle, clematis, zinnias, trumpet vine, and a new one for me, cypress vine. That last one really pulls them in.

I have an oriole feeder too, but all I get are grey catbirds. They love oranges cut in half and any kind of jelly. Sometimes I sit on the porch and toss blueberries to them. Little beggars are almost as bad as pigeons. Robins will go after grapes like that, but stay a bit farther away than the catbirds.

I've watched them feeding heavy from these wildflowers out in the woods.

https://uswildflowers.com/detail.php?SName=Campsis%20radicans

I saw one tonight fly to my feeder and turn up his nose. I emptied my feeder and refilled with fresh. We'll see tomorrow.