What I did on my Long Weekend!

Not much of anything really and it was GREAT!!!

My husband is a Registered Nurse and had to work this weekend so I planned on weeding the garden.  It’s not something that I hate to do, I actually quite enjoy it, but I just wasn’t in the mood, so I didn’t  But, I did get creative… well sorta.

Since hubby was sleeping and I like to try and stay quiet for him, I thought I’d just enjoy my coffee sitting on the deck.  No TV, just enjoy the outside.  Then I kinda got bored.  I had put my hummingbird feeder out but wanted more to have all over the back yard.  But I only have the one, and the stores a closed… hmmm what to do?  I know I’ll make one!  So I sit and ponder, what do I have in the house that I can make a hummingbird feeder out of?  Not much.  Recycling bin to the rescue!!

Let’s see what I can find.  Ah ha, a chip dip container, this should work as a bowl feeder, but it should have an ant mote…hmm, how about a pop bottle?  Yep, that works, but now it looks like the top of a pop bottle stuck on a chip dip container, kinda ugly.  I thought about painting the container, but all my paints are here at the store, so off I go digging around in my stash of stuff and lo and behold, I come across coloured electrical tape.  Why I have coloured electrical tape is anyones guess, but there it is.  So I wrap it up and made some electrical tape red flowers and here it is.  Still kinda ugly, but it did attract a hummer  

I only had the one chip dip container, but I still wanted to make more feeders, so this is my second version made from a small pill bottle with a handy dandy pop bottle flower.  I was hoping the flower would be more red than it is but the permanent marker I was using was old and ran out.

Then I made a dripping birdbath.  Hummers like to take a bath the same as any other bird, but they won’t go to a regular birdbath because they are so small the water is much too deep for them.  However they do love to shower  They will time their flight under a drip of water so that it hits their back.

So, back to the recycle bin and out comes the trusty pop bottle and a bowl from a microwave meal.  This is the result.

Yep, it’s kinda ugly too but it does the trick.  The drips fall at about 4 second intervals and the water in the bottle will last most of the day.  I’m gonna try and find a way to disguise the bottle to make it look nicer but still have access to refill it.

These are all pretty self explanatory but if you’d like instructions on how to make them I’d be happy to do a video, with a few improvements I plan for the next ones I make.  Just let me know.

For the rest of the day I pretty much just watched the hummingbirds and tried to figure out a way to defy gravity by having water self circulate for a water feature I want to make in the rock garden.  Turn out it can’t be done  This is my temporary substitute water feature.

It’ just sitting on the deck rail gurgling away until I can figure out how I’m gonna do what I wanna do.

I hope your weekend was fantastic too.

Until next time,

Sherry

Hummingbird Update

Yesterday I did a post on feeding hummingbirds.  This morning I opened up my facebook and my friend Garth sent me a link to the most beautiful hummingbird video that I just have to share with you.  Rather than just editing yesterdays post, I felt it deserved a post of its own.  Enjoy

Hummingbird Season

I live in southern Ontario, Mount Forest specifically and every year I mark Mother’s Day as the time to get my hummingbird feeders

Hummingbirds feeding (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

out for those little jewels of the air to drink to their hearts content.  But this year I fear I may be too late.  I occasionally check the The Ontario Hummingbird Project and this time when I looked there had already been sightings of hummers on March 19th!!  Almost 2 months before I even think about getting the feeders out.  They are checking to see if this is due to our unusually warm temperatures this year.

In any event, if you haven’t already gotten your feeders out or you are thinking about starting hummingbird watching (you won’t be disappointed) here are a few tips that may be of some help

Hummingbird feeding liquid

The liquid that is used to fill hummingbird feeders is a simple sugar and water solution.  It should contain ONLY sugar and water and NO OTHER ADDITIVES.

This “nectar is made up of a ratio of 1 part sugar to 4 parts water and will produce a liquid that will closely resemble the nectar found in flowers.

Here’s how to make it:

• Add 1 part sugar and 4 parts water to a pan on the stove.
• Stir to completely dissolve the sugar while bringing the mixture to a boil.
• Boil the solution for 2 minutes to release the chlorine and kill any mold spores that may be in the sugar.
• Remove from heat and cool
• When cool, add enough nectar to your feeder to last a day or two, the rest may be stored in a closed container in the fridge for up to one week

Clean feeder and change the nectar regularly to avoid mold and possibly harming the birds.

Hummingbird red food color

The red dye in hummingbird food IS NOT NECESSARY to attract hummingbirds, and may actually harm the birds you are feeding.  Us a feeder that has red on it, tie on a red ribbon or add some red silk flowers to your feeder to attract the hummingbirds.

Feeding hummingbirds maple syrup

NEVER use maple syrup, honey, molasses, corn syrup, brown sugar or artificial sweeteners ~ just plain white granulated table sugar.

Choosing a hummingbird feeder

This is my preferred hummingbird feeder.  it’s easy to clean, doesn’t leak, has an ant mote and raised flower ports to divert rain and perches if the birds decide to rest a bit while feeding.  Best of all it’s not expensive!

Where should I put hummingbird feeders outside?

The ideal location would be close to a window in your house so you can watch the hummingbirds while you are indoors.  The feeder should also be hung in a shady spot if possible to keep the nectar from spoiling too soon.  If you use more than 1 feeder, hang them so that both feeders can’t be seen at the same time.  Hummers are very territorial and will guard a feeder by chasing off other hummers that try to use it.  If a territorial hummer can see both feeders he will guard both at the same time and make it hard for others to get a drink.

When my husband and I lived in Utopia, before moving here to Mount Forest, (yes, we did leave Utopia believe it or not ) I had 8 hummingbird feeders out at the same time!  After the first couple of years there were so many hummers that came back I had to place that many around so they could all feed easily.  I could almost set my watch to the birds coming back to the feeders at about 15 minute intervals.  When we left Utopia, I left the feeders behind along with instructions for the next tenants for feeding my little friends.  I sure hope the kept it up.

Well, that’s about it.  I hope we aren’t too late getting those feeders out, and I also hope this has answered any questions you may have had about feeding hummers.  I’m certainly no expert but I do enjoy the little time I have with hummingbirds so I’ve picked up a thing or two over the years, so if you have any other questions I haven’t answered,  please don’t hesitate to leave a comment and I’ll get right back at ya.  Who knows, you may be asking a question that someone else is too shy to ask, or even one I don’t know the answer to and I’ll have to research it, but in any case we may all learn something new.

Have a great day,

Sherry