Tips for a Successful Hummingbird Garden
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Thirteen species of hummingbirds visit southeastern Arizona every year.
Those commonly seen in Oracle include Anna's, Black-Chinned, Broad-
Billed, Costa's, and Rufous. Anna's and Costa's are permanent
residents in our region. Broad-Tailed and Magnificent hummingbirds
are also likely visitors.
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- Select a combination of plants that bloom throughout the year.
- Provide evergreen shrubs and small trees with horizontal branches for
hummingbirds to hide when they are resting. These should be 25 to 50 feet away
from flowering plants with a clear view of the flowers.
- Include plants that tend to attract many small insects from which
hummingbirds can get their daily protein, vitamins and minerals.
Small insects and spiders comprise up to half of a hummingbird's diet. These
include aphids, whiteflies, ants, mosquitoes and fruit flies.
- Avoid spraying pesticides and herbicides. These will also poison
hummingbirds. Systemic herbicides show up in flower nectar.
- If you feel a pesticide is necessary, grind up two Habenaro chili peppers and
two garlic bulbs in a blender with one-third cup of water. Strain out the solids
and you have a concentrate. Add one-quarter of the concentrate to one gallon
of water and spray the plant. This mixture will not harm any bird.
- Hummingbirds make their nests using alternating layers of spider webs and
cottony plant material. Leave the spider webs for the hummingbirds between
February 1 and June 1. Kill only very poisonous spiders such as the black window
and desert (brown) recluse.
- Hummingbirds like misters even more than birdbaths. Clip a mister nozzle
on the top of a tall shrub pointing straight up. Hummingbirds will fly through
the mist, perch on leaves in falling mist, and drink from the water droplets
on leaves formed by the mist. To save water, put the mister on a timer that
turns on for one hour twice a day. Keep the mister at least six feet off the ground
to avoid cats.
Hummingbird Feeders
- The best designed hummingbird feeders are saucer-shaped and have no vertical solution
bottle. These keep the sugar water level below the reach of bees and wasps.
Many have built-in ant moats. Saucer shapes are also less affected by wind.
- Since insects are attracted to the color yellow, choose hummingbird feeders
without yellow parts if possible.
- If you have several feeders, place them at different heights to avoid
hummingbird confrontations.
- Sugar water ferments quickly and mold appears overnight in warm weather.
If feeder is in full sunlight, assume a temperature of at least 90 - 99°.
If Temperature is Clean and Refill Feeder
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100°+ |
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daily |
| 90 - 99° | | every two days |
| 80 - 89° | | twice a week |
| 32 - 79° | | at least weekly |
- Clean the feeder by soaking it in a solution of 90% water and 10% vinegar for at least eight hours.
Use a glass jar, plate or bowl to hold the plastic parts under water. Then rinse well and dry.
- Do not use any petroleum-based products such as Skin-So-Soft or Vaseline
on a feeder. Hummingbird wings will accidentally brush against this substance
and it will be ingested when the hummingbirds are preening their feathers.
- Place a commercial product such as Tanglefoot in the bottom of an ant moat
to stop ants. The tall sides of the ant moat will keep hummingbird wings away.
- Keep all feeders more than 6 feet off the ground and away from anything a cat can perch on.
Hummingbirds have been snatched by cats, frogs and even praying mantises.
Female Black-Chinned Hummingbird on a rainy morning.
Heritage Farms saucer from BestNest.com available in 8 and 16 ounce sizes.
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