Can anyone tell me..

That is a great help Kate as I was'nt sure about Teal either!

Do ya want me to take pix of one of em and email it to you? No, I didn't think so..sides you would only get to see the one that doesn't say This Side UP

Butterfly (I couldn't get a pix of the Mamma-to-be Hummer yesterday even tho she did say Howdy real purtylike)

When we lived in CO one resultant had 20 feeders on the front side of the building....you could tell who the head Hummer was real quickly....it dive bombed everyone away and then it went right down the row having a sip at each feeder and off it went. Quite comical really. The rest would skitter away and when it was done they would come back and resume eating like nothing ever happened.

Butterfly (what a neat summer that was)

Pooooor Pat. Too bad I don't have your addy or I would send you chocolate and a squishie. (See what you're missing?)

"hummer food" in general is not recommended by experts, especially if it's the red stuff...red dye is as bad for these little guys as it is for some kids: it raises their already high heart rate. Early season hummer food [when it's still quite cold at night]: 1 cup sugar to 3 cups boiling water. [cool before filling, of course] Mid-late season food: 1 cup sugar to 4 cups boiling water.

There is a kind of duck around here that is called a "teal". Google found some references to "blue-winged teal", but I didn't find a photo that really showed enough of the coloring to tell if that is where the name comes from. A male mallard's head is green; mallards have a bit of blue on their wings. When my son got married, the bridesmaid's dresses were "mallard blue" -- greenish-blue, much more blue than green, and a bit bluer than what I usually think of when I think of teal. Kate G's links give a good idea of what I think of when I think of teal; it's the color of a lot of the scrubs the medical people wear at Mayo :)

Julia in MN

To be a total sloth about it - I put 1/4 cup of sugar and l cup water in my big glass measuring cup, microwave it for about 2 minutes and then cool. I didn't know you could / should raise the amount of sugar a little when the weather is still chilly. Are you sure this is okay? Polly

"KI Graham" wrote> "hummer food" in general is not recommended by experts, especially if it's

Don't bother buying hummer food, make your own, it's healthier for them, no dyes. Boil 1 cup of water, stir in 1/4 cup table sugar till dissolved. That's all you need. I have lots of hummers and as long as there's red on the feeder, there's no need for red liquid.

Denise

Don't bother buying hummer food, make your own, it's healthier for them, no dyes. Boil 1 cup of water, stir in 1/4 cup table sugar till dissolved. That's all you need. I have lots of hummers and as long as there's red on the feeder, there's no need for red liquid.

Denise

Well, that still means a trip to the store - we don't have sugar in the house.

Forget the hummer food. Mix 1/4 cup sugar with 1 cup boiling water. Let cool and fill the hummer feeder.

Yes, it's best for them to have a higher sugar content. In colder weather, they need to go into torpor to preserve energy overnight: that's why they will often put aside their differences and settle down to share a feeder toward dusk. A higher sugar content earlier in the season will boost the resources they need overnight.

I used to work at North Vancouver Outdoor School, producing educational materials on all sorts of critters, including hummingbirds. The information I use came from experts working with the school...hummingbirds are particularly fascinating, but we also had the world's largest congregation from the other end of the spectrum: bald eagles! I learned all sorts of weird and wonderful things about both species!

Thanks Kim. Polly

"KI Graham" wrote

Here is how I would show you what teal is Go to this page

liz young in soggy california

or you can put the sugar in the bottom of a wide mouth quart jar (I make a quart at a time), pour boiling water over it, stir to dissolve, put the lid on and store in refrigerator until need to refill the feeders.

Which is every day and a half right now, year-round resident hummers are all on drinking binges now.

liz young in soggy california

When we visited S. California we were amazed at the variety of hummers you have out there - here in the East we only have the ruby throat. I have filled the feeders with the sugar solution and have the extra stored in the refrigerator.

Elizabeth, That is a perfect teal!