Hummingbird care, best hummingbird bird feeders, hummingbird garden, types of hummingbirds in North America, Hummingbird cake recipe
Hummingbird care
Hummingbird feeders provide hummingbirds with nectar helpful to their survival, especially during migration. These are steps to follow to ensure your yard is a safe and nutritious for hummingbirds:
Hang several feeders far enough apart that the hummingbirds cannot see one another, this will help with dominating birds.)
Fill the feeders with sugar water. made with 4 parts water to 1 part pure white sugar. Never use red dye, honey, or artificial sweeteners.
When possible hang in the shade to prevent fermenting.
Change the nectar regularly -- before it gets cloudy, or every 3 days.
Clean the feeders with a solution of one part white vinegar to four parts water every time you refil. If your feeder has become dirty, try adding some grains of dry rice to the vinegar solution and shake vigorously. The grains act as a good abrasive. Rinse well at least 3 times.
Mold kills hummingbirds, so clean well. Look for feeders that are easy to clean. Old nectar will also kill hummingbirds.
Check Hummingbirds maps to find out when the first hummingbird sightings occur near you in the spring, and hang feeders a couple of weeks before then. In the fall, keep your feeders up for two weeks after you see the last one.
Hummingbird feeders
When choosing a feeder for hummingbird nectar be sure to look for feeders that are easy to clean. Clean feeders are very important in the health of the hummingbirds and a dirty feeder can kill them very quickly. I recommend cleaning hummingbird pots brand hummingbird feeders at least every 3 days. Clean the feeders with a solution of one part white vinegar to four parts water every time you refil. If your feeder has become dirty, try adding some grains of dry rice to the vinegar solution and shake vigorously. The grains act as a good abrasive. Rinse well at least 3 times.
Hummingbird feeder types include glass hummingbird feeders, plastic hummingbird feeders, ceramic hummingbird feeders and come in many different sizes depending on your needs. There are feeders that have holes on the top or ones that have a bottom spout. Whatever look you want to go for.
Hummingbird gardens
I have followed advice below by Audubon's Steve Kress
for my hummingbird garden.
Hummingbirds prefer openings in the forest and forest edge, and so are readily drawn to suburban and rural gardens that offer a mix of tall trees, shrubs, and patches of meadow and lawn. They are less likely to frequent cities, perhaps because they find fewer flowering plants for food and trees for nesting. Yet even in the largest cities, hummingbirds occupy parks and sometimes visit window boxes or rooftop gardens planted with bright flowers, especially during migration.
Once hummingbirds discover your property, the same individuals are likely to return each year at about the same time; they are remarkable creatures of habit. The number of hummingbirds that frequent your yard is closely linked to the abundance of food, water, nesting sites, and perches. Following are 15 practical Steps you can take to create an ideal hummingbird garden.
Step 1
Draw a sketch of your yard, indicating the location of the house and outbuildings such as garages and tool sheds. Include trees, shrubs, existing flower beds, and other features likely to benefit hummingbirds. Work with these existing features, enhancing them with additional plantings.
Step 2
Using your landscape sketch, find a good spot to be the focus of your hummingbird garden. A site near a window or patio door will give you a front seat on the action. Hummingbird gardens need not be large—even a flower box or trellis will do. Gardens planted exclusively with hummingbird plants will attract more birds, but even a few choice plants added to existing gardens will feed some hummers.
Step 3
Think vertically when planning your hummingbird garden. Use trellises, trees, garden sheds, or other structures to support climbing vines; add window boxes, wooden tubs, or ceramic pots to create a terraced effect and provide growing places for a variety of plants.
Step 4
Select native plants for your garden. Learn which plants hummingbirds feed on in natural areas near your home. Native hummingbird plants and local hummingbird species have a long association in which plants serve as a reliable source of nectar at the same time each year. Keep in mind that cultivated varieties of impatiens and rhododendrons may look promising, but have little value to hummingbirds; these are selected for flower size, color, and shape, but are not good nectar producers. Do not plant exotic flowering plants, such as Japanese and tartarian honeysuckles, which are attractive to hummingbirds but invade neighboring fields and woodlands, crowding out more beneficial native shrubs and wildflowers.
Step 5
Choose red, tubular flowers, as these are quick clues to a flower's value as a hummingbird food supply. Hummingbirds are also attracted to orange and pink flowers, but they find yellow and white blooms less attractive. Red, non-tubular flowers such as roses and geraniums may lure hummingbirds with their blooms, but they offer little nectar, so the birds quickly reject them. Flowers that rely on sweet scents to attract insect pollinators usually do not provide a nectar source for hummingbirds.
Step 6
Plant patches of the same species (three or more plants) to provide larger quantities of nectar.
Step 7
Select plants that bloom at different times of the year to provide nectar throughout the hummingbird season.
Step 8
Prune your plants to prevent excessive woody growth and instead favor production of flowers.
Step 9
Learn about local hummingbird habits and which species are likely to occur near your home. Study the migration dates, nesting season, and seasonal presence. This knowledge will help you select plants that will bloom during the time that hummingbirds are likely to visit your yard.
Step 10
Include some fuzzy plants. Hummingbirds usually line their nest with soft plant fibers. Two favorites are cinnamon fern, which has a fuzzy stem, and pussy willow. Leave some thistle and dandelion, other favorite nest-building materials, in your yard.
Step 11
Provide water baths. Like most birds, hummingbirds frequently bathe in shallow water—even in the drops that collect on leaves. Hummingbirds may sit and fluff and preen or flit through the droplets generated by garden misters, drip fountain devices, and small waterfalls; these are available at many garden shops.
Step 12
If your garden does not include trees or shrubs and there are none nearby, position perches within 10 to 20 feet of the garden. As a substitute for a live perch, use a dead branch with small twigs (keep in mind the tiny size of hummingbird toes).
Step 13
Large trees are often used for perches, as springboards for courtship displays, and for nesting. The trunks of large trees also provide hummingbirds a source of lichens—a camouflaging decoration that some species attach to the outsides of their nests with spider silk. If space permits, plant a large tree such as a maple or oak. If you have a smaller yard, plant smaller trees that can provide nest sites and serve as food sources.
Step 14
Be persistent. Hummingbirds may appear minutes after you set out inviting plants, but sometimes it takes several weeks before they chance on your garden. Even with luscious red flowers as bait, pure chance may keep your feeder a secret until the first migrant discovers it. Once hummingbirds do start visiting your garden, they are likely to continue throughout the season and will usually return the following year. If visits drop off for a week or two in midsummer, the reason may be that an especially attractive nearby flower patch may have temporarily diverted your hummingbirds.
Step 15
Avoid insecticides. Hummingbirds can ingest poisons when they eat insects; systemic herbicides can also be found in flower nectar.
North America hummingbirds
Ruby-throated hummingbird
Order: Apodiformes Family: Trochilidae
Hummingbirds are small birds capable of hovering in mid-air due to the rapid flapping of their wings. They are the only birds that can fly backwards.
Unless otherwise noted, all species listed below are considered to occur regularly in North America as permanent residents, summer or winter residents or visitors, or migrants. The following codes are used to designate some species:
(A) Accidental - occurrence based on one or two (rarely more) records, and unlikely to occur regularly
(C) Casual - occurrence based on two or a few records, with subsequent records not improbable
(E) Extinct - a recent species that no longer exists
(Ex) Extirpated - a species which no longer occurs in North America, but populations still exist elsewhere
(I) Introduced - a population established solely as result of direct or indirect human intervention; synonymous with non-native and non-indigenous
Conservation status - IUCN Red List of Threatened Species:
EX - Extinct, EW - Extinct in the wild
CR - Critically endangered, EN - Endangered, VU - Vulnerable
NT - Near threatened, LC - Least concern
DD - Data deficient, NE - Not evaluated
(v. 2013.2, the data is current as of March 5, 2014[1])
and Endangered Species Act:
E - endangered, T - threatened
XN, XE - experimental non essential or essential population
E(S/A), T(S/A) - endangered or threatened due to similarity of appearance
(including taxa not necessarily found in the United States, the data is current as of June 8, 2012.[2])
List of hummingbirds known to occur in North America Edit
Bronzy hermit, Glaucis aeneus LC
Rufous-breasted hermit, Glaucis hirsutus LC
Band-tailed barbthroat, Threnetes ruckeri LC
Green hermit, Phaethornis guy LC
Little hermit, Phaethornis longuemareus LC
Long-billed hermit, Phaethornis longirostris LC
Mexican hermit, Phaethornis mexicanus (NR)
Pale-bellied hermit, Phaethornis anthophilus LC
White-whiskered hermit, Phaethornis yaruqui (A) LC
Stripe-throated hermit, Phaethornis striigularis LC
White-tipped sicklebill, Eutoxeres aquila LC
Tooth-billed hummingbird, Androdon aequatorialis LC
Green-fronted lancebill, Doryfera ludovicae LC
Scaly-breasted hummingbird, Phaeochroa cuvierii LC
Wedge-tailed sabrewing, Campylopterus curvipennis LC
Long-tailed sabrewing, Campylopterus excellens NT
Rufous sabrewing, Campylopterus rufus LC
Violet sabrewing, Campylopterus hemileucurus LC
White-tailed sabrewing, Campylopterus ensipennis NT
White-necked jacobin, Florisuga mellivora LC
Brown violetear, Colibri delphinae LC
Mexican violetear, Colibri thalassinus LC
Lesser violetear, Colibri cyanotus
Green-breasted mango, Anthracothorax prevostii LC
Green-throated mango, Anthracothorax viridigula LC
Black-throated mango, Anthracothorax nigricollis LC
Veraguan mango, Anthracothorax veraguensis LC
Antillean mango, Anthracothorax dominicus LC
Green mango, Anthracothorax viridis LC
Jamaican mango, Anthracothorax mango LC
Purple-throated carib, Eulampis jugularis LC
Green-throated carib, Eulampis holosericeus LC
Ruby-topaz hummingbird, Chrysolampis mosquitus LC
Antillean crested hummingbird, Orthorhyncus cristatus LC
Violet-headed hummingbird, Klais guimeti LC
Emerald-chinned hummingbird, Abeillia abeillei LC
Short-crested coquette, Lophornis brachylophus CR
Rufous-crested coquette, Lophornis delattrei LC
Black-crested coquette, Lophornis helenae LC
White-crested coquette, Lophornis adorabilis LC
Tufted coquette, Lophornis ornatus LC
Green thorntail, Discosura conversii LC
Golden-crowned emerald, Chlorostilbon auriceps LC
Cozumel emerald, Chlorostilbon forficatus LC
Canivet's emerald, Chlorostilbon canivetii LC
Garden emerald, Chlorostilbon assimilis LC
Cuban emerald, Chlorostilbon ricordii LC
Brace's emerald, Chlorostilbon bracei (E) EX
Hispaniolan emerald, Chlorostilbon swainsonii LC
Puerto Rican emerald, Chlorostilbon maugaeus LC
Blue-tailed emerald, Chlorostilbon mellisugus LC
Green-tailed emerald, Chlorostilbon alice LC
Blue-chinned sapphire, Chlorestes notatus LC
Golden-tailed sapphire, Chrysuronia oenone LC
White-tailed goldenthroat, Polytmus guainumbi LC
Dusky hummingbird, Cynanthus sordidus LC
Broad-billed hummingbird, Cynanthus latirostris LC
Blue-headed hummingbird, Cyanophaia bicolor LC
Mexican woodnymph, Thalurania ridgwayi VU
Crowned woodnymph, Thalurania colombica LC
Violet-crowned woodnymph, Thalurania colombica colombica
Green-crowned woodnymph, Thalurania colombica fannyi
Fork-tailed woodnymph, Thalurania furcata LC
Fiery-throated hummingbird, Panterpe insignis LC
Violet-bellied hummingbird, Damophila julie LC
Sapphire-throated hummingbird, Lepidopyga coeruleogularis LC
Humboldt's sapphire, Hylocharis humboldtii LC
Blue-throated goldentail, Hylocharis eliciae LC
White-eared hummingbird, Hylocharis leucotis LC
Xantus's hummingbird, Hylocharis xantusii LC
Violet-capped hummingbird, Goldmania violiceps LC
Pirre hummingbird, Goethalsia bella NT
Streamertail, Trochilus polytmus LC
Buffy hummingbird, Leucippus fallax LC
Glittering-throated emerald, Amazilia fimbriata (A) LC
White-chested emerald, Amazilia brevirostris LC
White-bellied emerald, Amazilia candida LC
Honduran emerald, Amazilia luciae EN
Blue-chested hummingbird, Amazilia amabilis LC
Charming hummingbird, Amazilia decora LC
Mangrove hummingbird, Amazilia boucardi EN
Azure-crowned hummingbird, Amazilia cyanocephala LC
Berylline hummingbird, Amazilia beryllina LC
Blue-tailed hummingbird, Amazilia cyanura LC
Steely-vented hummingbird, Amazilia saucerottei LC
Snowy-bellied hummingbird, Amazilia edward LC
Rufous-tailed hummingbird, Amazilia tzacatl LC
Buff-bellied hummingbird, Amazilia yucatanensis LC
Cinnamon hummingbird, Amazilia rutila LC
Violet-crowned hummingbird, Amazilia violiceps LC
Green-fronted hummingbird, Amazilia viridifrons LC
Copper-rumped hummingbird, Amazilia tobaci LC
Stripe-tailed hummingbird, Eupherusa eximia LC
Blue-capped hummingbird, Eupherusa cyanophrys EN
White-tailed hummingbird, Eupherusa poliocerca VU
Black-bellied hummingbird, Eupherusa nigriventris LC
White-tailed emerald, Elvira chionura LC
Coppery-headed emerald, Elvira cupreiceps LC
Snowcap, Microchera albocoronata LC
White-vented plumeleteer, Chalybura buffonii LC
Bronze-tailed plumeleteer, Chalybura urochrysia LC
Green-throated mountain-gem, Lampornis viridipallens LC
Green-breasted mountain-gem, Lampornis sybillae LC
Amethyst-throated hummingbird, Lampornis amethystinus LC
Blue-throated hummingbird, Lampornis clemenciae LC
White-bellied mountain-gem, Lampornis hemileucus LC
Purple-throated mountain-gem, Lampornis calolaemus LC
White-throated mountain-gem, Lampornis castaneoventris LC
Garnet-throated hummingbird, Lamprolaima rhami LC
Green-crowned brilliant, Heliodoxa jacula LC
Magnificent hummingbird, Eugenes fulgens LC
Greenish puffleg, Haplophaedia aureliae LC
Purple-crowned fairy, Heliothryx barroti LC
Long-billed starthroat, Heliomaster longirostris LC
Plain-capped starthroat, Heliomaster constantii LC
Bahama woodstar, Calliphlox evelynae LC
Inagua woodstar, Calliphlox lyrura NR
Magenta-throated woodstar, Calliphlox bryantae LC
Purple-throated woodstar, Calliphlox mitchellii LC
Rufous-shafted woodstar, Chaetocercus jourdanii LC
Slender sheartail, Doricha enicura LC
Mexican sheartail, Doricha eliza NT
Sparkling-tailed hummingbird, Tilmatura dupontii LC
Lucifer hummingbird, Calothorax lucifer LC
Beautiful hummingbird, Calothorax pulcher LC
Ruby-throated hummingbird, Archilochus colubris LC
Black-chinned hummingbird, Archilochus alexandri LC
Vervain hummingbird, Mellisuga minima LC
Bee hummingbird, Mellisuga helenae NT
Anna's hummingbird, Calypte anna LC
Costa's hummingbird, Calypte costae LC
Calliope hummingbird, Stellula calliope LC
Bumblebee hummingbird, Atthis heloisa LC
Wine-throated hummingbird, Atthis ellioti LC
Broad-tailed hummingbird, Selasphorus platycercus LC
Rufous hummingbird, Selasphorus rufus LC
Allen's hummingbird, Selasphorus sasin LC
Volcano hummingbird, Selasphorus flammula LC
Glow-throated hummingbird, Selasphorus ardens EN
Scintillant hummingbird, Selasphorus scintilla LC
And just because its yummy! Hummingbird cake recipe
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder (make sure your baking powder is still fresh!)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg (optional)
3 eggs
2 cups granulated white sugar
1 cup canola oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 8 oz. can crushed pineapple, with juice
2 cups mashed bananas (from about 3-4 bananas)
1 cup finely chopped pecans
Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients*
1 lb cream cheese, softened
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 lbs (32-ounces) confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tbsp Cointreau**
1 cup roughly chopped pecans, for topping (optional, toasted)
Edible flowers for garnish (optional)
Frosting Notes:
*The cream cheese frosting recipe can be cut in half if you prefer less frosting. If so, apply sparingly so there is enough to cover the entire cake.
**Feel free to use any favorite liquor, such as Grand Marnier, Triple Sec, Cognac, Armagnac, Brandy or even Bourbon. Or, simply omit the liquor and use 2 tsp vanilla extract.