Preparing for those ‘Gems on the Wing’
One of the benefits of a home garden is the wildlife and birds
it attracts, especially hummingbirds.
Who hasn't marveled at the antics and high-speed acrobatics of those
"gems on the wing??” Well, it is relatively easy to attract them
to your yard.
A good way of attracting hummingbirds to the yard is to plant a hummingbird
garden. The birds have essentially no
sense of smell, so plants with showy flowers full of nectar will bring them
in. Red is a preferred color but
hummingbirds will visit any colored flower that contains nectar.
Consult your nursery for plants that thrive in your area, but you might try
fuschias, sages, penstemon, lupine or manzanita. There are a great variety of plants that will
attract hummingbirds. Tree tobacco,
honeysuckle and flowering trees also attract many birds.
Take great care in using pesticides in the garden. Hummingbirds come in close contact with
plants and the residue can harm the birds.
Insects are also on the hummingbird diet, so insecticides can drive your
hummingbirds to look for other food sources.
To keep wintering humming-birds in your yard after the flowers are gone, try
supplemental feeding. Specialized
feeders for hummingbirds are readily available.
Fill the feeders with a solution of one part sugar to four parts water
that has been boiled and allowed to cool.
Do not use red food coloring, and do not use honey to sweeten the
solution.
Keep the feeders clean and change the solution often.
Hummingbirds are very territorial, so if you have one that won't allow others
to your feeder; try placing two or three other feeders around the yard, and out
of sight of each other if you can. It's
harder for the aggressive one to keep that many to itself.
Along the coast in
It is thought that not one square foot of the