Most every porch in the South has a red flower or a hummingbird feeder on it, but if yours is one of the few that doesn’t, maybe you should think of putting one up.
Hummingbirds are fun to watch and easy to attract using feeders or planting flowers in your yard, said Dr. H. Lee Stribling, an Extension wildlife scientist.
The rubythroat hummingbird is common in Alabama. The male has a deep red patch on his throat and a dark green back. The female looks similar, but she doesn’t have the red patch on her throat and her back is a lighter green.
Hummingbirds are attracted to the color red, so when you’re buying a feeder at any local garden center, get a red one. If you already have a hummingbird feeder that is not red, use red food coloring in the nectar solution.
You can buy nectar solution or you can make your own for your feeder. Making your own is simple: mix one part sugar with four or five parts warm water. Stribling says although hummingbirds eat a few insects, the only nutrient they require is pure table sugar.
A few reminders from Stribling will help to keep your hummingbirds coming back. First, keep your feeder clean. Pour out any remaining nectar once a week and clean the feeder with vinegar and hot water. Never use detergent. Also, replace the nectar if the solution becomes cloudy.
Second, never use honey in your feeders. Although hummingbirds will eat honey, Stribling says they can’t digest it and will die.
If ants are a problem, coat the line used to hang the feeder with vegetable oil. This keeps the ants from climbing down the line.
Although talk across the fence will tell you to take your hummingbird feeders down in the fall or the birds will stay and freeze to death, Stribling says it’s okay to leave the feeders up as long as the birds are coming to it. He said the birds know when it’s time to return to their winter homes.
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SOURCE: DR. H. LEE STRIBLING, Extension wildlife scientist, Alabama Cooperative Extension System (334) 844-9247.
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Make your yard a haven for Eastern Bluebirds. Do this by building houses for them to nest in and planting the kinds of foods bluebirds like to eat.
Eastern bluebirds are much less aggressive than other birds. Starlings and sparrows sometimes take over natural spaces like hollow trees bluebirds normally would nest in. Fortunately, bluebirds will live in nest boxes you build for them. These boxes can be built so that larger birds can’t use them.
Mount nest boxes on fence posts, private utility poles, tree trunks or metal poles. Be sure to attach the boxes so they can be easily inverted and cleaned. Nest boxes mounted on slick, metal poles prevent predators like cats, raccoons and snakes from climbing up and preying on a new family of bluebirds.
Bluebirds usually start moving into Alabama by the end of February. Be sure to have your nest boxes up by then.
Bluebirds generally rely on a diet of insects, but they will also eat berries and fruits. To attract more bluebirds into your yard, plant blackberry bushes, cherry trees or dogwood trees. Bluebirds are also attracted to honeysuckle vines and oak trees.
For more information on attracting bluebirds and a diagram for building nest boxes, see your local county Extension agent.
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