feeders – New England's Narrow Road

Instead of birds flocking to my yard this Spring, I mostly have squirrels doing acrobatics on my feeders so they can chew up the seed.

Without many plants and flowers in my new yard, I wanted to keep the bug-eating birds here by offering them seed, but the gray squirrels take over and help themselves. They are funny to watch. Before I got this shot, this guy was holding onto the metal pole with one foot and the feeder with the other. By the time I got the camera he had changed position and was happily snarking down the sunflower seeds, upside down.

Oh, and I had a bear walk through the back yard the other evening. I suppose he was looking for the seeds too. All feeders were in, thank goodness and he headed back into the woods as soon as he came.

This morning I saw the first hummingbird of the season at my feeder.
My sister, in Mass., has had one for a week or so, but my feeder has remained empty. I always try to remember to put out the feeder around the first of May in case they are in the area.

hummingbird food — Time to feed the hummingbirds

I prefer to have plants in the garden and yard that will attract them, and for many years I never used a hummingbird feeder, but I no longer have my beautiful gardens full of red monarda (which they love) and other flowers to feed them, so I have to have a feeder.

Here’s the mixture I use if you are wondering.
1/2 cup sugar to 2 cups water.

I put 1/2 cup of sugar into one cup of water and heat it in the microwave until it dissolves.
Then I pour it into my blue (16 oz. plus) plastic container with a lid and add another cup of cold water.

I only pour a little at a time into the feeder and change it every other day. The remainder is stored in the refrigerator.

If you LOVE hummingbirds, I just read a beautiful page full of wonderful PHOTOS documenting a hummingbird nest with 2 babies. Her photos are awesome.

I struggle to capture a good photo, but here is the one I took this morning. My new feeder in the picture to the left, has a glass center and I like it much better than my old feeder shown above.

If you are planning to buy a feeder, I suggest getting one with little perches of some kind. This one came with the perches not attached and at first I didn’t put them on, but the birds seemed to need them and usually sit on them while they drink.