How to Attract Hummingbirds to Your Yard Today by Robert Frankson
Updated July 8, 2020
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If you’ve never seen a dedicated hummingbird garden in person, then you’re really missing out.
Being surrounded by tons of hummers zipping through the air, going from flower to flower is an amazing experience. Unfortunately, attracting lots of hummingbirds to your yard is not as simple as putting up a hummingbird feeder or two. Creating a hummingbird haven requires careful planning and lots of patience.
Fortunately, we’ve talked to many experts and done our own research on how to attract hummingbirds to your yard and today you get to learn from our experiences.
Here are six ways you can spruce up your yard to make it as inviting as possible for hummingbirds.
How To Attract Hummingbirds To Feeders
If you want to attract lots of hummingbirds, the easiest way to do so is to buy the best hummingbird feeder. Actually, you should be a few of them. We’ll tell you why later.
Hummingbirds have to feed every 15 minutes to keep up with their active lifestyle. So it’s no wonder that hummingbird feeders are so effective in attracting them.
One of the biggest issues that people have is that they buy a hummingbird feeder, hang it, and expect swarms of hummingbirds only to be disappointed when none show up.
Here are a few tips to attract hummingbirds to your feeders.
Buy the Best Hummingbird Feeder
There’s not much you can do if you buy a low-quality and ineffective feeder. Finding the right feeder for your backyard is not an easy task which is why we wrote an entire guide on hummingbird feeders that you should read if you haven’t purchased one yet.
But to summarize that post, you should look for a feeder that has perches, is red-colored, and has some kind of protection from ants and bees. All three of those factors will increase the chances that hummingbirds will enjoy visiting your feeder and return daily for that sweet nectar.
Use the Best Nectar
Talking about nectar, you shouldn’t neglect the food itself.
Hummingbirds will refuse to drink spoiled nectar so making sure that your nectar is nice and sweet and replacing it before it spoils is very important. Nectar usually lasts around five days or so, less if it’s really hot outside. When it spoils, nectar will turn cloudy. That is a good guideline on when you should replace it.
The nectar quality itself is also important. The easiest (and cheapest) way to guarantee quality nectar is to make it yourself. This nectar recipe is our favorite by far. Just make sure you don’t follow the bad advice of adding red food coloring to your nectar. Some studies suggest that it can cause health issues for hummingbirds. Plus, if your feeder is already red, that is good enough.
If you want to increase the time before your nectar spoils, check out Nectar Defender. They claim that adding their product to your homemade nectar increases its lifespan to weeks instead of days.
Where to Hang Your Hummingbird Feeder
A hummingbird feeder is useless if the hummers can’t find it. Where to hang a hummingbird feeder is one of the most asked questions about feeders.
Here are a few tips on finding the best location in your yard to hang a hummingbird feeder:
Place your feeder close to shelter or places for the hummingbirds to perch. This will make them feel safe from predators.
Place it where hummingbirds are already visiting. If you have a bunch of colorful flowers that are attracting hummingbirds already, it’s a good idea to place the feeder nearby.
Place the feeder in partial shade. Direct sunlight all day long will make your nectar spoil at a faster rate than in the shade. But the sun shining and reflecting off the nectar and the red feeder will catch the eye of hummingbirds flying past. So try and get the best of both worlds and play it in a semi-shady area.
But don’t forget about yourself either. Place your feeders somewhere where you can enjoy the view!
Keep your Feeders Clean & Maintained
Hummingbirds like a well-maintained and clean feeder. Here’s a great guide on how to clean a hummingbird feeder and keeping it fresh.
Squash the Bullies
Earlier we mentioned that you should buy multiple feeders. Not only will that attract more hummingbirds to your yard, it will also prevent any bully hummingbirds from monopolizing a single feeder.
Hummingbirds can be territorial and quite often you’ll see a single hummingbird protecting a feeder (their source of food) from other hummingbirds. But if you have multiple feeders, a single hummingbird won’t be able to keep the other hummingbirds away from them all.
Plant Flowers that Attract Hummingbirds
Flowers That Attract Hummingbirds
Feeders aren’t the only way to attract hummingbirds to your garden. The original feeder is the flower. By planting flowers designed to attract hummingbirds, you’re not only giving hummingbirds another source of food but also increasing the chances that a hummingbird flying by will stop at your yard. Plus, hummingbird flowers tend to be bright and colorful which is attractive to us also.
Here are some things to consider while growing your hummingbird garden.
Keep it Local and Native
Hummingbirds instinctively know what flowers and plants provide nectar and which don’t. They prefer plants that are native to the area, so keep that in mind when planning your garden. It’s also better for your local ecosystem and bee population.
Native plants don’t just provide a source of nectar for hummingbirds, they also attract insects which hummingbirds eat for protein.
Some of the best flowers to attract hummingbirds are native plants like the trump honeysuckle, bee balm, and hummingbird sage. The Audubon society has a great tool you can use to figure out what plants are native to your area.
The best flowers to attract hummingbirds are:
Coral Honeysuckle
Bee Balm
Sages
Cardinal Flower
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Poster Comment:
I was sitting on neighbor's bench out front of where I live waiting for taxi and a Rufous Hummingbird stopped in and sipped nectar from the Cardinal flowers that were planted nearby. The bird was tiny and unafraid of me.