Hummingbirds, My Recipe for Their Nectar, My Quest To Snap a Great Hummingbird Photo

We plant red flowers back here to attract the hummingbirds in the deep shade.  We feed the fish in the pond too and sometimes we get a frog or tadpole.

My next door neighbor recently shared with me that she has a "bucket list".  I don't.  I have wondered why?  Am I so dull, so little imagination, so lackluster?  Maybe, or maybe not......But then I did think of something.  I really would like to snap a great photo of a hummingbird.

Last winter I was thrilled when I got a great picture of a Pileated  Woodpecker just outside my living room window.  But that is a much larger target!

We do not add any food color to the nectar.

Upon deciding to undertake this quest I got busy.  Last week and refreshed 2 of the feeders with fresh nectar I had previously made up and refrigerated.  Today I plan to refresh the third feeder and move it from the front yard to the back as we are seeing so many more there.  One feeder is properly an Oriole feeder but the hummers don't seem to care and frequent it readily.

I think it might increase my odds of getting the great photo I aspire to.

I just finished making the nectar and as it cools I thought of sharing the recipe with you in the event some of you don't already have it.  It is very easy.  4 parts water to 1 part sugar, plain granulated sugar.

Ingredients for Hummingbird Nectar:

4 C. water
1 C. granulated sugar

Bring the water to a boil in a clean pan.  Boil for 2 minutes.  Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.  Turn off the heat.  Cover and let come to room temperature.

The big take away here is this should result in the same ratio found in nature so do not use anything else as a sweetener and so not cook longer or let evaporate as it will alter the simplicity and correctness of the formula.  The 2 minute boil of the water should remove any ammonia or other additive.

I like to keep red flowers in the back, tubular is always good to attract hummingbirds.  My dearest friend Diane and I planted red Azaleas all across the back years ago and they are beautiful in the early spring.  The hummingbirds start then and I hang their feeders when they bloom.

Sometimes I plant deep pink nicotine (a blooming tobacco with a tube type flower).  I always have red begonias and inpatients as they do so well in the deep shade we have.

We get but one variety normally, the Ruby Throated Hummingbird.   Generally it is the only hummingbird east of the Great Plains except the Rufous which is rare in the fall in some Gulf and South Atlantic states.

I have several bird books but treasure my Golden Guide to Birds of North America which is tattered and dog eared with age and use.  But I like it,