Wondering where the hummingbirds went? Birds & Beasleys owner, Sandy Shull, explains hummingbird behavior and how to best maintain your nectar feeder. Come visit us this weekend! Open Saturday and Sunday.
Hi! I’m Sandy from Birds & Beasleys. Today’s questions is, what happened to my hummingbirds? Where are they? Where did they go? What should I do? Well, there’s probably a couple of things going on.
The birds are probably fine. They are migrating, they are either going to pass through or they are coming back down. Or maybe they knew it was cold and icky in June and they’re waiting. Hard to say. My guess is that there is good foliage out there, there’s lots of flowers, lots of nectar. The birds are probably eating naturally, they don’t need to depend on a feeder. So when we say it’s a good hummingbird year, it’s because the birds are coming to our feeder because it is a poor natural food time. If it was a poor hummingbird year for us, it means great flowers, not so much a push to the feeders. So, that’s one issue.
The other thing is what’s going on now is that the heat is coming in. The time to really watch your nectar, look at your nectar, see if it’s cloudy, change it often, it might be as much as every day or two. If you start to see it get a little cloudy, turn it, because the birds will not eat it if it has fermented.
Lastly, what else happens in the summer, ants come in. Ants come down, they stay on a trail, they come off a hook down a wire, into the moat. If you put a moat in and put some water, the ants will drown, it will keep them off your feeder. But if the ants can jump on your feeder, they will. Also, think about maybe vaseline on your hook. That will help deter ants. And finally, if you start to get bees, get the product Skin So Soft, AVON Skin So Soft, which we carry and you might have it in your drawer. Put a little bit on your finger, rub it over the holes, that helps deter wasps and bees from coming in on your feeder. So, if you have any other questions, call us down at Birds & Beasleys.