Ruby-throated Hummingbird at Coral Honeysuckle, a GREAT native spring nectar source that often reblooms all summer long

Hi Gang,

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are migrating north! There was a real HIT of them yesterday, Monday, April 15, 2024, when many reported seeing the first ones in their Cape May County, NJ, yards. I was away and got home late in the day. You can bet that one of my first tasks this morning was to make hummingbird solution, fill a few feeders, and place them where they could easily be seen from inside the house.

You can monitor Ruby-throated Hummingbird migration north (AND enter your own sightings) on the 2024 Hummingbird Central map and on the Journey North map. When you go to each of these sites, be sure to set the date for these migration maps to 2024.

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have been surging north from their wintering grounds (northern Panama and Costa Rica, north to southern Mexico) since mid-February and March. They will steadily move north with each good migration weather day, the opening of important nectar plants, and warm enough days with insect life.

Native nectar sources that I planted for hummingbirds and other pollinators are about to bloom: Coral Honeysuckle, Wild Columbine, and Red Buckeye to name a few.

Why Feeders?

You might wonder why I recommend putting out a hummingbird feeder, which is obviously an artificial nectar source. When hummingbirds arrive, my garden is still dirt! Without well-maintained feeders, “on-the-move” Ruby-throated Hummingbirds will keep going. Nothing much is in bloom.

Why More Than 1 Feeder?

In spring I hang 6-8 feeders scattered around our yard, so that returning males (they migrate first) can’t take control of our whole yard. I want females to settle in too and consider nesting in our yard. I’ll space the feeders out. I put one feeder on each end of my front porch (and enjoy them from the front porch rockers). I hang one from a shepherd’s hook on our back porch, easily viewed from the kitchen and sunroom. I hang one from the arbor into our perennial garden. I hang one from a tree limb at the back of our garden. And I hang one at the back of our woods. This way females will have options, places to set up their own territory and nest in our yard, away from bossy, territorial males (who DO NOT share, even with females they’ve mated with). When activity picks up I add two more, one outside my office window and one outside our screened porch.

The Proper Solution for a Hummingbird Feeder

The solution I use (that is most like nectar) is 1 part sugar and 4 parts water. I make a quart at a time and refrigerate what’s left. I’ll only put two ounces into each feeder in the spring (and in late fall) because use is light and the last thing any of us want to do is waste sugar water (sugar cane fields are gobbling up important habitat). I mark my calendar so that each week, like clockwork, I empty and clean the feeders with hot soapy water, then rinse them with boiling water, and then put in 2 ounces of fresh solution (when temperatures heat up, I clean the feeders every 3 days). NO red dye is necessary; the feeders have enough bright red parts to attract hummers and red dye is cancer causing (and outlawed in many countries). Hummingbirds have long tongues and can easily reach the 2 ounces of solution. I don’t fill the feeders with more solution until activity gets crazy and that doesn’t happen until young are on the wing and during migration when so many birds are tanking up and moving through our habitat.

Keep an eye on Journey North’s Ruby-throated Hummingbird MAP and on Hummingbird Central’s MAP to see their movement north so you are ready for them.

The site I recommended for 23 years, Hummingbirds.Net, is still available. On this site you can view 23 years of spring migration maps (1996-2018) for Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, but there have been no LIVE maps since 2018. The creator of this great website is no longer able to maintain it because of technical (and expensive) changes (his explanation can be read at the top of the page HERE).

If you are a new wildlife gardener, be sure to also provide:

a pesticide-free property (since hummingbirds also feast on soft-bodied insects and spiders)
a habitat filled with native perennials, trees, shrubs, and vines that provide nectar attractive to hummingbirds from spring thru fall!

Some Sources of Native Plants in 2023

A number of native plant sales and reputable nurseries are gearing up for 2024. Be sure to support them. Here is my post: “Some Sources of Native Plants: 2023“.

All About Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds

To read more about Ruby-throated Hummingbirds check out my additional post below. You may also want to print my Ruby-throated Hummingbird Fact Sheet (the reverse side covers Hummingbird Feeder maintenance and gardening for hummingbird info).

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds – Part One: They’re Back

my favorite hummingbird feeder (nature centers sell them, as does Amazon)
spring nectar plants that have worked for me in the Mid-Atlantic Region to lure hummingbirds to settle in and nest in your yard.

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds – Part Two: Summer Nectar – COMING SOON:

summer nectar for the Mid-Atlantic Region including many natives and a few non-natives (that are not problematic).
proper feeder maintenance during the heat of summer
the importance of insects
places to bathe

Happy Wildlife Gardening, Pat

In nearly all my programs and workshops I recommend adding a MISTER to your wildlife habitat. This suggestion is often met with some confused looks, so I thought I’d follow it up here with some photos that can help walk you through it and understand how simple it can be. NO ELECTRICITY needed, just a hose connection.

Why a mister, you may ask?

A mister can serve a dual purpose: (1) offering a place for songbirds, including hummingbirds, to bathe, and (2) moistening an otherwise dry part of your garden where you can plant goodies under it that like wet feet, like Cardinal Flower, Swamp Milkweed, Turtlehead, etc.

Misters are especially crucial during rainless summers when everything is bone dry. To a hummingbird, a bird bath is like the Atlantic Ocean and they’ll never use it. Instead hummingbirds need rain showers, garden sprinklers (which few of us use because we’ve planted NATIVES which need little pampering), or A MISTER!

Set up properly, a mister mists down from a nice height over leaves and plants beneath it, drawing in hummingbirds that will fly through it to take a bath or roll around on wet leaves below to bathe, as will warblers and other songbirds as well. We’ve seen some of our neatest garden visitors at the mister!

009-mister-AmRedstart-w-sig — American Redstart (a warbler) bathing under our mister

010-Mister-GrCatbird-w-sig — Gray Catbird bathing under our mister

011-mister-chickadee-w-sig — Carolina Chickadee bathing under our mister

012-mister-YellowWarbler w-sig — Yelow Warbler bathing under our mister on all the wet Pokeweed leaves. We happily let Pokeweed flourish in the shade under our pines where nothing else easily grows – it’s an incredible bird food and a stunning native plant

Do I need Electricity? NO!

002-attachment-w-sig — NO electricity needed . . . just a hose connection

003-Mister w-sig — Be sure that you buy a mister that has 50-60 feet of tubing so you can wind it up a tree and out a branch.

004-Timer-w-sig — Simply turn your hose on in the morn and off at dusk or set up a hose faucet timer to accomplish that automatically

You can set your mister up on a hose faucet timer so that it comes on in the early morning and goes off at dusk (or whenever it suits you), or you can simply turn the hose on that is connected to your mister when you want it to come on and turn that hose off when you want it to stop misting (as we do). We turn ours off at dusk. Obviously, on rainy days we don’t turn it on.

Where Oh Where Can I Find a Mister?

Misters are sometimes sold at Nature Centers. Be sure you find one that has 50-60 feet of 1/4 ” black tubing (along with the special mister unit at the end); that way you can easily snake it up into a tree and out to the end of a branch so the mist mists out over a nice-sized area.

On line, a few places I found them available were:

AMAZON, called “Birds Choice Leaf Mister.”
And HAYNEEDLE, called Backyard Nature Products Leaf Mister

Another product I’ve been told about, but not yet tried is a Fan Mister, like the average person might use around their swimming pool. Wildlife gardeners can adapt one and use it as a bird mister. Here’s one (and apparently they’re available at places like Lowes and Home Depot when all the summer stufffffffffffffffff is out):

AMAZON, called Outdoor Fan Mister

It’s fun to place a bench somewhere nearby so that when the wind drifts the mist out over the bench, you’re cooled on a hot summer day.

Happy Gardening,

Pat

Tag: hummingbird

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds: How to Attract Them