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Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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We have found them to enjoy Snapdragons, and those are sold as annuals, but here they come back every year. If you want a beautiful vine that they love, get a Chilean Glory Flower vine. Ours dies off in winter, but gets 8-10 high by the end of the next summer.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
11,974 posts, read 25,346,473 times
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Had a feeder out last two years. Last year had at least one a couple times a week. This year nothing until August when a pair of them came around daily. You're dealing with a smaller number of birds so it is far more hit or miss than a regular seed feeder even if you do everything correct.
We have two species here in my part of Washington state. The Ruby-throateds stay year-round, but the Rufous migrate south.
I don't feed them in the summer; I plant flowers they are attracted to. The especially like red flowers and other posters have mentioned some good ones to plant. I just started putting the feeders back out for the overwintering Ruby-throateds last week, as flowers are starting to become more scarce.
Whatever you do, be SURE you keep the feeders clean. I see a lot of hummingbird feeders in discount stores that look very difficult to clean properly. Using liquid Feeder Fresh in your sugar water solution helps keep bacteria down. And don't add red food coloring - it's harmful to the birds. The feeder itself should be attractive enough on its own.
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"Mistress of finance and foods."
(set 18 days ago)
Location: Coastal Georgia
50,010 posts, read 63,335,877 times
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We have quite a lot of them, and they are fun to watch. Our feeder has 5 perches, but they come to the feeder one at a time, so one or two perches is plenty. Our feeder holds about 3 cups of sugar water. I make batches of 1 cup sugar to 4 cups water. Boil it briefly to kill bacteria and dissolve the sugar. Keep extra in the fridge. This keeps the feeder from getting moldy. If your feeder does get mold. Clean it thoroughly with bleach and hot water before you put it back up.
We hang planters nearby, so they can have a few feeding options, and they perch on them to wait their turn. They like Million Bells, and any flowers that have tubular flowers.
We have one feeder and Hummingbirds feed there constantly. We also have a number of Butterfly bushes which they seem to like. As my name indicates, we live in the Willamette valley and weather is generally pretty mild, although we did hit 117 F in June which damaged a bunch of plants and trees.
i was very much surprised to step outside this cool morning in north Bama and hear my birds flittering about .. i had neglected their feeder for a week or so thinking they were gone .. i initially attracted my hummers quite by mistake .. a neighbor had thrown away some Christmas ornaments by the side of the road and i picked up several and hung them from tree limbs in my yard ,, pretty quickly i noticed them flying up to the red ornaments ,, i went and got a feeder that very minute and have enjoyed them all summer ..all my other birds will be hitting their feeders pretty soon so i better stock up on salt free peanuts .. peanuts must be the most perfect natural food as i have not found any creature that will refuse them ..
My butterfly bush attracts hummers every year along with butterflies. I am trying bee balm next year, too.
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