It can be tricky to get hummingbirds coming to your yard, but once you have the right environment you’ll have the visiting and coming back for more! Here are the top 8 things the hummingbird society recommends for success:

Provide a place for bathing:

• More than most birds, hummers need to bathe regularly, due to the sticky nature of nectar.
• They prefer very shallow, moving water, or a spray mist.

Nesting:

• Placing nesting material near a feeder may attract female hummingbirds to nest near you, so you will be more likely to see them during the 5-7 weeks they are brooding or caring for their young.
• “Hummer Helper^®” is a practical nesting material and is available at many bird stores and garden centers.
• Hummer nests are often re-used, wholly or in part.
• Leave a nest in place; it is illegal to possess a nest or any part of it without a permit.
• Hummingbirds don’t use “birdhouses” for their nests, because they are not cavity nesters.

Spoil Them:

• Hummers return to sites where they found  good food supplies the year before. Give them a reason to come back to you!

Source: Hummingbird Society

Don’t pack up your nectar feeders just yet. Hummingbirds are beginning their fall migration.

Here in the south we have about month more before the migration starts.  Want to estimate the number of hummingbirds using your feeders during migration?  Multiply each hummingbird you see by 5. Have 10 at your feeder, 50 are passing thru your yard!

There is no need to take down nectar feeders to make sure hummingbirds migrate. They innately know when it is time to move and where to go.  Nectar feeders can be a big help, they supplement hummingbirds’ much-needed energy for migration or overwintering. Remember to keep the nectar fresh and offer a mix of four parts water with one part sugar.

How do you know when hummingbirds are gone? Leave your feeder up until you see no activity for at least two weeks and the nectar level is not dropping anymore.

How many hummingbirds so you see?