The hummingbirds arrived in northern Minnesota over the weekend! I spotted my first tiny little one at the feeders on Saturday, May 16, 2015.
I didn’t get a picture of that hummer and had company until this morning, so was happy to see them back again. Check my snow covered deck on May 19th!
It rained and snowed all day yesterday, so the little critters were cold, but were at all the feeders around the house. Here’s one little hummingbird at the oriole feeder on the back deck. Oh yeah, also saw my first beautiful orange and black oriole at the feeder this weekend, too.
Since I put up all the hummingbird feeders a tad bit early, the first of the May, the water had gotten moldy and spoiled, sitting in the sun so long. When the water turns cloudy, that’s a sign to change the water, because it’s spoiled and not good to feed to the hummingbirds anymore.
So I had to wash all eight of the feeders, make up more syrup, and refill them all. Normally I don’t use colored syrup, but these two feeders came with the dry mixture in the box, so I used them.
Hummingbirds are attracted to the red coloring of the feeder, so it’s not necessary to color the syrup and better for them if you do not.
Here’s my very simple recipe for hummingbird syrup, without using food coloring dye:
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HUMMINGBIRD FEEDER SYRUP RECIPE:
Heat 4 cups of water in a pan on the stove, bring to a boil, turn off after rolling boil.
Add 1 cup sugar to the boiling water, stir to dissolve
Remove pan from stove, let mixture sit until cold
Fill clean hummingbird feeders and hang on deck, trees or shepard’s hooks
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It was worth the hard work to enjoy all these hummingbirds and the others wild birds that constantly entertain me out here on the deck.
I’m so happy to see that the hummingbirds arrived in northern Minnesota at last, regardless of the late timing and the snow. What’s your recipe for hummingbird syrup? And what kind of birds visit your back deck?
