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What Actually Attracts Them ? (1 Viewer)

R

Robert11

Member
Hello,

Here's a dumb question, but am new at this, and just put up a feeder, and guess what - have actually attracted them !!

So, I was wondering:

What actually attracts them ?

It certainly isn't any aroma from the sugar water, I would imagine.

The feeder, like most of them, is really a pretty poor imitation of flowers and nector sources, at least in my opinion.

What do they actually home in on ?

I can't imagine what actually attracts them to the feeder.

BTW: what's the probability of the same one(s) coming back to the feeder for their southern migration ? And, the same one(s) for next Spring's northern trip ?

Thanks,
Bob (outside of Boston)
 
Plenty of studies show that these birds are very likely to return to a food source year after year.

What attracts them? They feed by sight. No bird in North America, with the exceptions of scavengers and some pelagics, has even a moderate sense of smell. On the other hand, they generally have extremely good sense of vision and tend to home in on colors they associate with food.
 
They're also attracted to:
* the color red
* Tubular flowers, particularly ones that they feed on in the wild, with high nectar content.
* water, they like sprinklers, drippers, and especially misters.
* insects. Some people leave out bananas to attract fruit flies for them. (Bugs are an important part of their diet. Avoid insecticides.)
* shade, particularly in desert environments
* They collect spider webs to line their nests.
* They like a high perch on a thin branch, often dead, where they can clearly see feeders and surrounding areas to protect their territory.
----------------------------------------------------
Don't use red nectar in your feeder. Mix it yourself with plain white cane sugar and water (1 part sugar, four parts water, by volume.) The bright colors, particularly red on hummingbird feeders will attract them to the nectar.

Hummers AVOID wasps and bees, and ants are a problem too. They tend to avoid spoiled nectar, which can kill them anyway. Clean your feeder frequently.
 
Thats great advice! I've had Hummers here the last 3 years and I'm sure its the Trumpetvines that have brought them in. One orange one is on an arbor where they bloom up to 9 feet tall or more (the arbor is 8 ft. tall). This Fall I have a Honeysuckle coming in (Lonicera Alabama Crimson) thats supposed to bloom a lot sooner than the Trumpetvines and is much more well behaved. They also enjoy the Agastache "Tutti Frutti" and Black & Blue Salvia.
I like to clean my feeders every 2 days, I just think its easier for me because then they don't get so built up w/ mold etc.
They are such a joy to have around!
 
Hope this works. Here is a pic of a Hummingbird at my Trumpetvine.
I don't have a great camera but did the best I could.
 

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Hello,

New to forum, I am retired and live in Panama. We have a large garden with lots of fruit trees and flowers. Humming birds are daily visitors, I recently starting taking photos of the birds visiting the yard.

The humming birds here make a sound like a gieger counter (clicking/ticking), and they check all the flowers on a bush. So when I hear one, I ready my camera on a group of flowers and wait for movement, then trip the shutter. Works sometimes.

We don't use feeders because they attract the wasps and bees.

They have been here for four or five years, not sure what type of humming bird they are, but have dark green and black on their backs.

Regards,
 

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Greg Scott said:
They're also attracted to:
* the color red
* Tubular flowers, particularly ones that they feed on in the wild, with high nectar content.
* water, they like sprinklers, drippers, and especially misters.
* insects. Some people leave out bananas to attract fruit flies for them. (Bugs are an important part of their diet. Avoid insecticides.)
* shade, particularly in desert environments
* They collect spider webs to line their nests.
* They like a high perch on a thin branch, often dead, where they can clearly see feeders and surrounding areas to protect their territory.
----------------------------------------------------
Don't use red nectar in your feeder. Mix it yourself with plain white cane sugar and water (1 part sugar, four parts water, by volume.) The bright colors, particularly red on hummingbird feeders will attract them to the nectar.

Hummers AVOID wasps and bees, and ants are a problem too. They tend to avoid spoiled nectar, which can kill them anyway. Clean your feeder frequently.
Click to expand...

I can agree with all except the emphasis on red. I have seen them swarm feeders that do not have ANY red on them.
 
Not to be contrarian, but, one of my feeder draws bees and wasps more than I would like. The dominant male Hummer works around them (it was his first).

I see the same moving, and patient waiting, at a feeder in the back yard as well. It gets some bees that the dominant female Hummer (of Juv Male) deals with as well.

I plan to change feeders, to stifle the bees, but they don't seem to deter the Hummers much by me. YMMV.

I've gotten some shots with the bees in the scene. I've not been quick enough to capture their interactions though.


_MG_0692-web.jpg
 
RBirchell said:
Not to be contrarian, but, one of my feeder draws bees and wasps more than I would like. The dominant male Hummer works around them (it was his first).

I see the same moving, and patient waiting, at a feeder in the back yard as well. It gets some bees that the dominant female Hummer (of Juv Male) deals with as well.

I plan to change feeders, to stifle the bees, but they don't seem to deter the Hummers much by me. YMMV.

I've gotten some shots with the bees in the scene. I've not been quick enough to capture their interactions though.


_MG_0692-web.jpg
Click to expand...


Guess I should have read a little further down the list before I said I agree.

Yes, I have seen hummingbirds feed right in with the bees and wasps with no problems. I don't like the bees, but the birds seem to ignore them, or run them off.

FWIW, I have yet to see a documented report of a hummingbird being stung by either bees or wasps, though some do claim that it has happened.
 
Greg Scott said:
They're also attracted to:
* the color red
* Tubular flowers, particularly ones that they feed on in the wild, with high nectar content.
* water, they like sprinklers, drippers, and especially misters.
* insects. Some people leave out bananas to attract fruit flies for them. (Bugs are an important part of their diet. Avoid insecticides.)
* shade, particularly in desert environments
* They collect spider webs to line their nests.
* They like a high perch on a thin branch, often dead, where they can clearly see feeders and surrounding areas to protect their territory.
----------------------------------------------------
Good points, Greg. And let's see more of your beautiful photos of hummers.
Click to expand...
 
After a colony of Africanized bees began to swarm the Humming Bird Feeders, we began to experiment with different ways to deter them. I read that Vick's vopo-rub works but it doesn't. One fairly effective repellant was an orange oil for removing label adhesive. They took it back to the hive and the bees stopped coming. At least for a while. Looking for a more effective repellant, I read that bees don't like olive oil and hate peppermint oil. Tried the olive oil and it works great! Going to get some peppermint oil next time we go to Whole Foods and try a blend. By the way, the way we found out the bees are the African hybrids is because they are much more aggressive than the European variety.
 
Native flora perhaps the best deterrent, by simply offering more and dispersed, forage. Having added pokeberry to a patch in the backyard, have seen Ruby-throated gleaning insects from the poke, enthusiastically, with little activity from bees. Pokeberries themselves, eaten by thrush, mimidae, waxwings, etc.

Marveled at the pics of bee guards on feeders below.
http://www.aba.org/birding/v41n5p35w1.pdf
 
I have my theories. Hummers are color-blind, they can only see red, orange and yellow, so the more of these in the feeder the better. I also think they are attracted to glistening liquids. If you can manage it, use a long piece of bamboo to rig a pulley system high in a tree so you can hang feeders in a place hummers love to be.
remember, red food coloring is unhealthy for the birds. Don't use it. Ever.
 
autowood said:
After a colony of Africanized bees began to swarm the Humming Bird Feeders, we began to experiment with different ways to deter them. I read that Vick's vopo-rub works but it doesn't. One fairly effective repellant was an orange oil for removing label adhesive. They took it back to the hive and the bees stopped coming. At least for a while. Looking for a more effective repellant, I read that bees don't like olive oil and hate peppermint oil. Tried the olive oil and it works great! Going to get some peppermint oil next time we go to Whole Foods and try a blend. By the way, the way we found out the bees are the African hybrids is because they are much more aggressive than the European variety.
Click to expand...
After an unsuccessful attempt to purchase Peppermint oil, found Tea Tree Oil. Best deterrent yet! :t:
 
I tested two feeders side by side with different color foods. One feeder had yellow flowers with clear food, while the other feeder had red flowers with red food. The hummers would not touch the feeder with red flowers and red food. As for the yellow feeder with clear food, well, it was by far their favorite.
 
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