Return of the Hummingbirds
Submitted by Jeremy Hull and Johanna Arendt, Travis County Balcones Canyonlands Preserve. Photo of black-chinned hummingbird on Turk’s cap by Heather Valey
The distinctive hum of wings and a small dark green flash zipping by is often the first thing you notice when a hummingbird is around. The tiniest of all birds, hummingbirds are super fast, energetic, and great fun to watch in your backyard or while on the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve.
The two most common hummingbird species you will see in Central Texas are the black-chinned and the ruby-throated hummingbirds. They are easy to attract to your home garden, and since they typically show up in very early spring, now is a great time to put your nectar feeders out. They will be hungry after their long migration north, and will appreciate the extra food. See the inset below for some feeder tips.
Feeders can provide great entertainment (check out the feeder tips below), especially when they are put near a window or on a porch where they are easy to see. But the best source of nectar for hummingbirds is actually native flowering plants, which also benefit from the hummingbirds’ pollination services. Hummingbirds prefer flowers that are tubular in shape, have a lot of nectar, and are brightly colored – especially red or orange. The Wildflower Center has a list of 30 native hummingbird plants for Central Texas. A few of our favorites are red yucca, tropical sage, Texas lantana, Turk’s cap, lemon beebalm, and rose pavonia.
Besides nectar, hummingbirds also eat insects including mosquitoes, gnats, fruit flies, and aphids, so they’re a very charismatic form of pest control.
Join us for our next Wild Neighbors webinar on February 18th to learn more about these fascinating birds with Dr. Tania Homayoun from Texas Parks & Wildlife. Check out our Facebook page for the link to sign up. You can also get lots of hummingbird information from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society. Need more information? Check out Balcones Canyonlands Preserve.
Tips for Hummingbird Feeders
- Make your sugar-water mixture one part sugar to four or five parts water. Bring the solution to a boil, then let it cool before adding it to the feeder.
- Only use refined white sugar – not honey, artificial sweeteners, brown sugar, etc.
- Do not add red food coloring to your sugar-water.
- Thoroughly clean and refill you feeders once a week, and more frequently during warm weather.
- Place your feeders less than five feet or greater than 15 feet away from windows to reduce the risk of collisions.
- Put them in an easily accessible spot so they are easy to clean and refill.
- Prepare to see and hear hummingbirds fighting amongst themselves over the territory around the feeder.