Re: hummingbird food/ liquuid recipe

Our hummers like 1/3 cup sugar to l cup water. I microwave it until it comes to a boil and let cool. Just trying to be very safe for these little ones. No coloring. Ours have become quite arrogant. If the feeder is running low, they come around the house and buzz the kitchen window to get me out for a refill. And very curious. If we are standing outside, they humm by to see what's new. Polly

Do you have squirrels? They will eat everything in a bird bath. Try to find the kind of feeders that stick on the window with suction cups. (see living room curtain pics on my web site -

Karen, Queen of Squishies

It depends on whether you have squirrels or other rodents. Here, squirrels take over any standing bird feeder. We have to provide elaborate deflectors to keep them away. They are such greedy little things.

Cheers,

Lynne >

We use the formula 1 cup sugar, 4 cups water, and we do add the red food coloring. We live out in the country near the Great Salt Lake and we have tons of hummingbirds. We have two large feeders that have places for them to rest as they suckle.... The perches are always full! This morning I stood out by the feeders (about two feet away). The little birds were hovering around me less than a foot from my face. The whir of their wings sounded like a miniature helicopter pad and they definitely talk to one another! They were so close, I could see their little legs tucked up in their feathers. They are so neat... they can flit around and yet hover in mid air as if they are standing still. One brave soul hovered about 18 inches from my cat as she lay lazily watching above her head as they flitted around. It is so awesome to see the beauty of nature like this.

From Utah,

Bev Forsling

No squirrels and I do hear they have voles around--but every single one of our neighbors have dogs (except one whose cat thought our tree out front was its scratching post--putting gravel all around was a great deterrent --it only comes to sit under the cars now). Not complaining--they are nice ppl and are NOT afraid to give a helping hand when needed...we haven't brought up the subject of cat with them either ; ) Butterfly

Lynne > It depends on whether you have squirrels or other rodents. Here,

Another zinnia lover here! The colors are so unbelievable. Those are what I think of as jewel tones. I dont have a lot of experience with hummngbirds but planted a garden hoping to attract them, and butterflys (who can live without a beautiful butterfly in their life?) One day, not long after I put out some nice hanging baskets of impatients, I was sitting on the steps enjoying the day when I thought I heard a very large bumblebee. A tiny gem of a hummer came and investigated the impatiences... I was thrilled! It came within a foot of me. I need more flowers. :-) Diana

Different birds like to feed in different ways. My winter favorites, the rufous-sided towhees, prefer the ground. They will eat from feeders, much safer from the cats, if there is no seed on the ground. Some birds will be attracted by black thistle seed (e.g., American goldfinches). Expensive, but worth it if you love yellow birds.

about their

If I am using the quart-size glass feeders, I will add just enough coloring (any color) to barely tint the nectar. This is not to attract the hummers, but to let me know how much nectar is left in the feeder.

I had tons of flowers in my back garden this year and never saw a hummer. I did see some weird insect that looked like a cross between a dragonfly, a bummble bee and a scorpian, but no hummers.

I don't have feeders, but we do have hummingbirds that come around every year, our neighbour tells us. These definitely stop in the tallest branches of one of the trees in our backyard, and chirp. It is almost like an insect's sound, not what you would expect of a bird.... maybe I should get a feeder for next year! They seem to have left already

Marissa mourn>>From: "Polly Esther" snipped-for-privacy@garbage.mindspring.com >

Definitely interesting little creatures. Here in SW Ohio, our feeders go out Apr 15 and are taken down Sept 15. If I forget (which I usuall do) and the feeder is not out in time or they arrive early, the hummers dance back and forth across our bay window facing where the feeder goes. Happens every year. Then they disappear for an hour or so; but if I don't get the feeder out right quick, they start dancing at the window again. During the summer if the feeder gets empty and I'm not quick enough to fill it, they do the same window dancing. How do they know to do that?

Karen in Milford OH

Hi Everyone, When we lived in Arizona we had lots of Hummers around. We named them after great musicians. We had Mancini,Bach, Beethoven and McCartney. They do get very used to you and seem to want to communicate. I miss them as in Texas I don't see any.

-- Sugar & Spice Quilts by Linda E

Howdy! We're on a hummingbird migration path, the same one the monarch and marquis butterflies take each year. Doesn't take much to get the hummingbirds to show up; they love the althea bushes by the back door, the hibiscus by the garage, and the hummingbird bush where the pond used to be. I don't put out any feeders, don't feel like messing with them. We're missing the fireflies/lightning bugs we had in our creek-side yard in Plano; in-laws who live near the river in Stephenville are enjoy their lightning bugs. Seems there's a quilt idea in there somewhere. Now, Taria! It's those roadrunners that live in the brushy park down the road (about 1/2 mile from here) that are the "really big birds" , those and the dam' grackles which are trying to take over the world! Apparently I speak "grackle" 'cause when I imitate them, they get really rowdy and then fly away; maybe I'm cussing in grackle. LOL

communicate. I

When we moved to Az in 1975 I had always thought that Road Runners were small birds. Imagine my surprise when one ran past me during a walk. I could have sworn I heard "beep beep".

-- Sugar & Spice Quilts by Linda E