Hummingbirds in the Atlanta wild

So a couple weeks ago I showed my bird feeders and some of the birds I had been attracting. I also mentioned that I put a hummingbird feeder up and we had seen it a couple times. Well now we think it is at least two or three birds, and they are constant visitors to the porch. These guys are small and each one has a different way of eating at the feeder. Some fly right in take a drink of some nectar but others will get close then go all the way around it drinking from each fake flower a couple time then fly away.

With all the action this feeder is getting I had lots of chances to get pictures and I took a bunch. I'm putting some of the better pictures on here to show my new birds. Sarah wants to put up another feeder for the hummingbirds and I am thinking of getting one that sticks to the window with a suction cup. That should get us closer to the action and maybe give us a new angle for pictures.

The birds we are attracting are ruby throated hummingbirds. They like to drink the nectar from brightly colored flowers in the wild. Our feeder has a nectar that we make right here in the kitchen. The stuff you buy in the store could get expensive but to make it at home is easy and much more cheap.

To make our own hummingbird nectar you need a two ingredients water and sugar. You should wash your feeder out a couple times a week to keep bacteria from building up and harming the birds. So wash out our feeder and while it is drying you can make the nectar. It is a 4:1 ratio water to sugar, so I like to make 2 cups of nectar. I heat up 2 cups of water and then add a half a cup of sugar. Heating the water helps dissolve the sugar faster and once the water goes clear again just cool it down and pour it into your feeder.

These bird feeders have been so much fun for me this summer so far and I am looking forward to the fall and winter months when the birds are very active to these feeders. Also the fall and winter brings different kinds of birds, and as the birds come to the porch I will shot some photos for later blog posts. I am very much a novice at all this bird feeder stuff, but I am learning and will try to blog about anything new I do on the porch so keep checking in.

-Bruce