A red-necked hummingbird (meaning it's neck is literally a red color, not that it's an object of a Jeff Foxworthy joke) peeked in the window at me this week as I was on the floor of the exercise room struggling through a set of Russian curls. It made me smile through the pain.
Hummingbirds are intense, highly driven little creatures. It seems they spend their days focused on one objective: consume calories. How would it be to get up every day knowing the work ahead of you is to find and eat food? I mean, I do spend a lot of time searching through the cupboards and refrigerator looking for snacks, but it's not my job. Often, in fact, it's what I do to avoid doing the things that are my job.
Hummingbirds are very punctual, always arriving to remind me to put out the nectar out in the first week of May and always disappearing the first week of September without so much as a "thanks for the snacks!" I'm happy to oblige—they're not asking for much and I get to admire them when they visit my feeder.
Make your own hummingbird nectar
Making your own nectar is less expensive than store bought, avoids the need for packaging or shipping, and is equally attractive and healthy for the hummingbirds. I make one to two cups at a time, cleaning the feeder and replacing the nectar at least once a week to avoid mold, which can be harmful to the birds.
Here's the basic recipe:
1 part sugar ; 4 parts water; 0 parts red food coloring
(So, to help those who are math challenged like me, 1/4 cup sugar to 1 cup water or 1/2 cup sugar to 2 cups water.)
Boil the water then add the sugar and stir until it's dissolved. Let the mixture cool before adding it to your feeder.
Make sure to use white sugar, not brown sugar, honey, molasses, or sugar substitutes. White sugar is most easily digested by the hummingbirds and slower to ferment. Sugar substitutes defeat the purpose of providing calories for energy.
Tap water is fine. Avoid using water that might have contaminants or anything you wouldn't want to drink yourself. Boiling the water can eliminate some impurities and helps dissolve the sugar.
These days, red food coloring is generally considered safe for humans and animals but coloring the nectar is unnecessary (and certainly not something found in nature). Add attractive red color in other ways—tie a red ribbon on the feeder hanger; plant red flowers or add a red garden gnome or gazing ball near the feeder.
To learn more about hummingbirds (as in actual scientific facts, not my musings) try these websites:
Comentarios