Attracting hummingbirds to a garden requires a few simple design elements to create an area they can call home (when they’re not migrating). Their needs are simple enough: water, food and shelter.
There’s nothing like having breakfast outdoors while hummingbirds buzz around the garden. In the summer, it will need to be an early breakfast, since the birds are most active between dawn and a bit after sunrise. At other times of the year, the birds keep later hours. They’re active again at the end of the day, but nothing like during the time before the morning sun descends from the treetops. This might be because carpenter bees raid nectar from their favorite flowers – but the bees, being cold-blooded, can’t fly as early as the warm-blooded hummingbirds.
This is a simple list of things you can plan into your hummingbird garden. They’re just a start – the more diversity you have, the better. The birds tend to nest where they like, so designing something where you’ll think they’ll nest may remain empty while the birds build their nest on an outdoor lantern or other unanticipated feature.
Water
This is the one thing that brings them back. They’ll drink and take baths, even if they’re not looking for nectar. The water should be shallow, and ideally flow over a curved surface where the birds can sit.
Flowing water is important for several reasons. Birds can hear it from above, telling them that there’s a place to drink even if they can’t see it. Flowing water is probably cleaner water since unless you live on a spring your water will be recirculated with a pump. Having some basic filtration – both mechanical and biological – will keep the water clean. Keeping the water moving discourages mosquitoes, too. Moving, oxygenated water also seems to favor the growth of moss in the water over algae.
Inspection perches
These are near the water source. They’re places for the birds to sit and check out any potential dangers before moving down to the water. Locating open perches above the water but not far away encourages birds to move in gradually before they commit to a bath (this works even better with jays, goldfinches and warblers than hummingbirds).
Preening perches
These are farther away and higher up, in areas that a predator would find difficult to access. Brushy small trees or large shrubs seem to work best. The birds here like an open yet twiggy branch structure so they can see out.
Nectar
We don’t have a hummingbird feeder. Instead, we planted a succession of nectar sources for the birds to visit. There’s a succession of blooms: penstemons and culinary sage, Mexican lobelia, red yucca, native sages, California fuchsia. This mimics what the birds would find in nature, where one species of plant blooms, only to be replaced by another. Since we don’t have feeders, we’re free to spend a few days away from the house without interrupting the birds’ food source.
Insects
If you tried to live on nothing but sugar water, you’d die of malnutrition. Hummingbirds are the same way. They require insects and spiders for protein, and consume a fair amount of these creatures as sustenance. Hummingbirds are related to swallows, so you might say that eating bugs is in their bloodline. Spider silk is a component of hummingbird nests, so having some spiders around is a good thing. Having happy birds means no pesticides. Besides, I’d rather the bugs went to the good cause of feeding hungry birds than died uselessly, twitching from some toxic product.
Hummingbirds
This point is perhaps obvious, but these birds only live in the Americas. If you’re reading this somewhere else, your garden might attract other nectar-loving birds – just not hummingbirds. Not to worry, since most nectar-loving birds are quite beautiful.
