If you take a few simple steps to attract them, you can enjoy hummers in your own backyard.

(ARA) – If the birding world had a rock star, it would be the hummingbird. Swift, tiny, secretive and simply amazing to watch, “hummers” are so hard to spot that catching a glimpse of one can be a summer experience you’ll long remember. But you don’t have to be an avid birder to be thrilled by the sight of a hummingbird.

Hummingbirds can be found across the country, with ruby-throated hummingbirds common east of the Rocky Mountains and a dozen or more species common in western regions. To maximize your chances of seeing a hummingbird this summer, take a few simple steps to attract them to your backyard, where you can enjoy them at your leisure.

Hummingbirds travel a long distance from their tropical winter retreats in Central and South America. Like all wild birds, hummers have three basic requirements to make a place their home – access to food, water and a good nesting spot.

Offering nectar-rich flowers and feeders is a good start. But you also need suitable habitat that provides sheltered perches and good nesting places, encouraging females to raise their young.

Research shows that these tiny birds have a remarkable memory and frequently return to the same hospitable sites on the same day of each year. If you feed consistently, you may have return visitors, especially during spring and fall migrations. If you can get them to nest nearby, too, you’ll have fledglings who also may remember your address in years to come.

You can help hummers build their homes with a new nesting material that's endorsed by the Hummingbird Society.

Female hummers typically settle in deciduous trees over a clearing or stream. They fashion their nests from sticky spider webbing, using lichen to camouflage the exterior and soft plant fibers to cushion the interior. It’s probably not practical for the average hummingbird fan to stock spider webs and lichens in their yard. But there is a man-made alternative.

Hummer Helper is the first commercially available product that has proven appealing to hummingbirds. Introduced by Songbird Essentials, the all-natural material (specially processed with oil left in) is contained in a wire frame painted red to attract a hummingbird’s eye.

The product is endorsed by the Hummingbird Society (hummingbirdsociety.org), an Arizona-based advocacy group. In the March 2009 edition of the society’s journal, Executive Director Ross Hawkins reported watching females at work gathering the material. “We recommend ‘Hummer Helper,’” he wrote. “It has the potential to help bring in more hummers, close by where you can observe them, and to increase the odds that they will nest near you.”

To start attracting hummers, hang a small feeder. Nectar mixes are available, but it’s easy to make your own. Use four parts tap water to one part ordinary table sugar, heated until dissolved. Red coloring isn’t necessary.

Increase the visibility of new feeders by hanging red ribbons nearby. The hummingbird’s high metabolism drives it to feed about every 10 minutes, and it examines every square yard in its range for food, experts say.

Keeping the feeder clean and the nectar refreshed is critical. Spoiled solutions can turn to alcohol and support mold, both harmful to the tiny birds. In cool weather, fluid can be left for five to seven days, but during hot spells it should be replaced every two days.

For easy cleaning, pick up a specialized brush like Songbird’s “Best Hummer Brush.” Don’t use soap or detergents, which can be hard to rinse thoroughly. A solution of ordinary white vinegar is a good non-toxic cleaner.

Two other handy accessories are a water-filled nectar protector ant moat, hung above feeders to keep ants at bay, and an overhead protector like Songbird’s Hummer Helmet to keep rain water from diluting nectar solutions. While its shade helps keep nectar fresh longer, the red color acts as a big red “Food Here” sign. Songbird products are sold through outlets catering to birders. The Web site www.songbirdessentials.com includes a “Retail Finder” directing customers to nearby locations.

To learn more about hummingbird research, visit the Hummer Bird Study Group at hummingbirdsplus.org.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Pick a Feeder, Any Feeder

Backyard bird feeding is an easy way to enjoy wildlife up close and personal. Feeders, and the beautiful birds that perch upon them, can brighten up any garden or yard. More important, however, is that bird feeding is very beneficial to the outdoor pets we adore so much.

There are many types of birds that have become well-adapted to taking advantage of bird feeders. In fact, according to the National Audubon Society, more than 100 species supplement their natural diets with birdseed, suet, fruit and nectar obtained from feeders. Plus, many are so widespread in their range that they’ll feast almost anywhere in the United States, from California to New York.

To accommodate this wide variety of birds, there is a wide variety of feeders: hopper feeders, tube feeders, platform feeders, suet feeders — the list goes on and on. Choosing a feeder is ultimately a matter of satisfying the specific preferences of the birds you want to attract. In other words, the birds you desire to feed will determine the type of food you put out. The food, in turn, helps to determine which feeder you should use.

For example, desirable birds like cardinals, woodpeckers and chickadees are attracted to feeders filled with premium seeds and real fruit. Foods like Wild Delight Less Mess Cardinal Food work great for attracting these birds because they’re made with real raisins, cranberries and cherries that sought-after birds love. As a result, feeders that accommodate large fruit pieces and seeds are necessary to attract these types of birds.

Pick a Feeder, Any Feeder

Some feeders work well for a number of different types of food. Hopper feeders and platform feeders are big and bird-friendly. They can hold almost any size seed and a lot of it, so they have to be refilled less often. Large fruit pieces and nuts, like those found in Wild Delight Less Mess Fruit & Berry, can easily be accessed from either of these feeders.

Tube feeders are extremely popular and come with feeding ports (the holes where the birds access the food) of varying sizes in order to accommodate different types of food. A tube feeder with large holes will let sunflower seeds and fruit pieces through, while others with small holes should be used for small seeds like Nyjer. Tube feeders are ideal for smaller birds like finches and pine siskins because they have small perches that large perching birds like starlings can’t grip.

Suet feeders, which are wire cages specifically made to hold suet, are an excellent way to offer your outdoor pets a variety of dining options. Suet is the hard, white fat on the kidneys and loins of cattle and other animals, and is a favorite of many birds. Some suet products, like Wild Delight Deck, Porch N’ Patio Suet, are even mixed with nuts like pistachios. If it were up to the birds, they would take the entire piece of suet away with them. Thankfully, the suet feeder cage design only allows small chunks to be eaten at a time, which means that desirable birds such as woodpeckers and nuthatches visit more often — so you get more time to enjoy watching them.

Yet another type of feeder is the mesh feeder. This kind of feeder is used for dispensing larger seeds such as black oil sunflower seeds. Mesh feeders, somewhat similar to tube feeders, are meant to attract birds that cling because other birds cannot perch on them. This helps to keep starlings and other nuisance birds away. More significant is that they’re designed to resist squirrel damage. Squirrels can use these feeders, but will be frustrated because they can only pick one seed at a time.

Very similar to the mesh feeders are finch sock feeders, which are mesh bags that allow finches to cling to them and discourage other birds from stealing seed. Products like the Wild Delight Finch Sock Feeder come already stocked with premium Nyjer seed, creating a convenient, all-in-one feed and feeder combination.

There are a number of helpful resources today that can help you pick out the appropriate types of food needed to attract desirable birds, and the feeders that suit them best. In fact, Web sites such as www.WildDelight.com are becoming a popular reference point for outdoor pet lovers.

Finally, remember that no matter what feeder appears to best suit a particular situation or yard, the key is really the type of food you put in it. Want better birds? Feed them premium food. Want to make it easy for birds to eat the premium food? Make sure you put it in the right type of feeder. With all the different types and styles of feeders available today, there have never been more opportunities to enjoy outdoor pets and the entertaining hobby of backyard bird feeding.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

The feed you put out in the fall will let birds know they’ll be welcomed and fed in your back yard when serious cold weather arrives.

Humans aren’t the only ones who look forward to the autumn harvest. Fall brings a bounty of natural foods for our feathered friends, too. But while they’re feasting on fall’s cornucopia of delicacies, birds are also planning ahead, taking note of yards with bird feeders that can help them weather winter’s cold.

Many of birds’ favorite foods are actually more abundant in the fall. Summer weeds ripen with seeds by October. Many berries only begin to emerge in late summer or early winter, and insects are plentiful. You may think there’s no need to feed your feathered friends during the fall, but if you want them to find your home in the winter, start feeding them in autumn.

The birds who visit feeders in the fall are scouting, becoming familiar with feed stations and making decisions about which back yards they’ll visit this winter. The feed you put out in the fall will let birds know they’ll be welcomed and fed in your back yard when serious cold weather arrives – and they no longer have the luxury of exploring for food.

When the temperature dips below zero, easy meals at a feeder can mean the difference between life and death.

An important rule of fall and winter feeding is to be prepared. By stocking up now on premium bird seed, bird lovers can help secure a wholesome food source for birds without having to brave stormy weather.

It’s important to stock your feeder with high-quality foods that will provide birds with the most fat, nutrients and energy. Look for a feed like Cole’s that packs nutrition, preserves freshness and gives you the most feed for your dollar. Cole’s Oil Sunflower is more than 99 percent pure and cleaned four times to ensure there are more seeds and fewer sticks in each bag. The feed is also nitrogen-purge packaged, just like potato chips, to ensure freshness and insect-free feed.

In addition to seed, serve up some suet either by itself or mixed with seed. Cole’s Nutberry Suet is a seed blend mix of premium fruits, preferred nuts, nutritious insect suet kibbles, and whole kernel sunflower meats, which appeals to fruit and insect-loving songbirds. Or try Suet Pearls, which features sunflower seeds buried inside energy-rich suet. Suet Nuts is a nourishing blend of peanuts and berry suet that birds find delectable. These feed choices will provide fat and a high protein energy source to assist wild birds in weathering winter and may actually boost their chance of survival.

Just as birds need food year-round, they also look for water. This can be tricky in regions where water spends the winter as ice, but bird lovers can still help in a number of ways. Experts suggest leaving icicles on the eaves to provide a regular source of water for birds that will drink the drops as the icicles melt. Birds are drawn to running water sounds so spritzers or small fountains are also good. In the winter there are many quality bird bath heaters available to keep the water from freezing and they are more convenient than setting out water every day.

Don’t worry about the birds if you have to be gone from your home for a while in winter. Birds are used to having a food source disappear. It might take them a while to rediscover your yard when you return, but they’ll be back, grateful for your assistance.

For more ideas on how to help birds eat well through winter, and feed choices visit www.coleswildbird.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Bird feeding is a hobby shared by millions of people around the world. Viewed by many as lovable outdoor pets, birds are delightful to watch. One of the best ways to view these outdoor pets is by feeding them. Birds need to eat year round, which is why it’s important to keep feeders full throughout the four seasons. It is during the winter that feeding birds can be most beneficial. In fact, winter feeding can actually improve the traffic on your feeder, since many outdoor pets will find, and stay, where there is food to be had.

In the winter months, birds’ natural food becomes scarce. Insects, fruits and seeds are just summertime memories, and as a result, many birds come to feast at feeders throughout the day. In fact, it’s not uncommon to spy a group of cardinals, finches and grosbeaks crowded around a feeding station together instead of living their typically segregated lives.

An important rule of winter feeding is to be prepared. By stocking up on premium bird seed, bird lovers can help to secure a wholesome food source for birds without having to brave stormy weather. It’s also a great idea to add suet to the diet of your outdoor pets. Not only does suet offer birds an important source of fat, but premium suet like Wild Delight’s Fruit & Berry Smoothie Suet contains real fruits like dried cranberries, blueberries, cherries and raisins that birds love.

In addition to feeders, bird lovers can help birds survive through the winter by stocking their yards with plants that retain their berries, seeds or cones into the winter months. Plus, these types of natural food may attract birds like cedar waxwings that seldom visit feeders.

Feeding birds can be especially important when temperatures fall below zero degrees Fahrenheit (minus 18 degrees Celsius). Easy meals at the feeder can mean the difference between life and death. In very cold weather, birds survive by remaining very still, perching quietly with their feathers fluffed out for insulation. They do this to save energy, which can only happen if they have enough body fat to fuel them. Consequently, birds that have access to feeding stations have an easier time putting on and retaining fat.

To help ensure that birds can easily access your feeders, keep them free of ice and snow. Even adding a roof to existing feeders can make a difference. For those who live in areas with heavy snowfalls, temporarily move feeders closer to the house, so they’re easier to fill. Plus, with feeders closer to home, many bird lovers can enjoy a close-up view of their outdoor pets.

Just because feeders are closer to the residence doesn’t mean that homeowners have to put up with a mess on the ground. For those who value a clean yard, look for waste-free products, like Wild Delight Deck, Porch N’ Patio, which don’t contain filler ingredients that leave behind messy leftovers.

Just as birds need food year round, they also look for water. This can be tricky where water spends the winter as ice, but there are a number of ways that bird lovers can help out. For instance, experts says that leaving icicles on the eaves can provide a regular source of water for birds (they will drink the drops as icicles melt). In addition, a shallow basin of warm water set out daily or an electric heater for bird baths is sure to make any yard a magnet for birds during cold winter months.

Feeding birds is becoming more and more popular every year, and while birds don’t rely solely on feeders in the winter, feeders do provide a beneficial food source that helps outdoor wildlife survive the colder months. No matter what the season, feeding birds is important, and feeders should be kept full year round.

Courtesy of ARAcontent