Today a friend sent me a power point presentation about hummingbirds. Knowing that I have a love affair with these tiny creatures, she perceived that I would enjoy receiving this. And I did. As I shared it with others who I knew had the same love affair I shared the story of discovering why I had so little luck this year, and last, attracting them to my feeders.
I got my nectar solutions out early both years and hung them in places where I could enjoy watching the hummingbirds dine. I rarely saw these tiny birds at the feeders, or they came quickly, looked at the feeder and promptly flew away. I could not figure it out. Two years ago I had many hummingbirds; now there were none. What was the issue?
The other day I spotted one coming in for a landing. I stopped to watch closely. It stuck it's beak into the plastic flower, quickly extracted it, and flew away. A voice in my head spoke for the hummingbird saying, "You surely don't expect me to eat this s***!"Suddenly I had an insight. Perhaps they were unhappy with the taste of the solution.
Two years ago I had made my own feeding solution from sugar. The last two years I had used a commercial solution that I mixed in water. Hummingbirds are noted for having gourmet tastes. Why had I not remembered that until now? Immediately I grabbed the feeders, poured out the solution and put a new batch on the stove. While I did not remember the proportions of sugar to water, I did know that sweetness is important. As soon as the solution cooled, I put it in the feeders. The next day I saw three or four coming by the feeders; then I began to see the characteristic air fights that hummingbirds have waiting their turn at the feeders. THEY WERE BACK!!! It was the solution.
As I shared the power point with other hummingbird lovers, I sent along my home recipe for the solution along with comments about changing the solution often, keeping the feeders clean and whether or not to add red food coloring to the solution; supposedly hummingbirds are attracted to the color red. I also mentioned that they tended to be 'gourmet eaters' and could be finicky about cleanliness and not sharing the nectar solution with other hummingbirds.
By the time I had finished with my email and instructions I began to wonder what had attracted me to these little, finicky, gourmet creatures in the first place. Why would I bother to work so hard to please them and become annoyed with their peculiarities? I never got this question satisfactorily answered, but I did decide that I might enjoy watching pigs more because they are known to eat anything and can live with filth quite well; but, then, there is the issue of having one housed in the back yard.......
