Hummingbird Mania

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By David Saidnawey
Spring is a wonderful time of year for bird and nature lovers. Spring and summer migrants like warblers, kinglets, ospreys and many others are beginning to arrive throughout our area. Year-round residents like American Goldfinches – New Jersey’s State Bird – are starting to molt into their beautiful yellow plumage.  Birds everywhere are singing as they establish nesting territories, search for mates and begin raising families.
Hummingbirds are among the most anxiously anticipated returning visitors to our yards.  There are over 300 different hummingbird species, and they can only be found in the Western Hemisphere. In the eastern part of the U.S., we have only one regular migrant – the Ruby-throated Hummingbird.  Ruby-throats are emerald green on their heads and backs, with a white breast. Male Ruby-throats have the familiar red patch under their throats, while the female does not.
Hummingbirds migrate from Central and South America early each spring.  They fly directly across the Gulf of Mexico, landing along the Gulf Coast in late February. They then proceed to their summer nesting spots as far north as Nova Scotia.  In Monmouth County, the first visitors will start arriving in mid-late April. Hummingbirds will breed in our area from May – August, and then turn around and perform the same migration trek southward starting in September. By late October, they’re gone.
Hummingbirds are a marvel of construction. They weigh only about 1/10 ounce. Their wings are a blur, beating at 20 – 80 times per second. Their shoulder joints are constructed to allow them to hover in place, and to fly forward, backward, up, down or sideways with great ease. They use moss and lichen to construct their golf ball-sized nests, and lash it to a tree branch using spider webs. Their eggs are the size of a blueberry.

Photo courtesy Wild Birds Unlimited.
Photo courtesy Wild Birds Unlimited.

Want to attract hummingbirds to your yard? Hummingbirds drink nectar from plants and also eat small insects. They can easily be coaxed to your yard with the proper feeders and plants.
Hummingbirds are naturally attracted to the color red, so make sure your hummingbird feeder has a lot of red on it and you plant lots of red flowers in your garden. Fill your feeders with a simple sugar water mixture (4 parts water to 1 part sugar). Don’t use red dye to color the water – it’s unnecessary as long as your feeder is red. Plain old white table sugar is the only sugar you should use to make your nectar. The nectar mixture should be changed on a regular basis (every 3-4 days) to make sure it doesn’t get moldy in our hot summer weather.
Native plants are an important addition to your garden if you want to create a bird-friendly habitat. Tubular shaped flowers are preferred, because hummingbirds actually use their long tongues to reach in and lap up nectar. Plants such as Bee Balm, Cardinal Flower, Columbine, native Honeysuckle and lots more are hummingbird magnets.
Hummingbirds will be here before you know it!
David Saidnawey has been an avid lover of birds and nature for over 15 years and is a certified bird feeding specialist at Wild Birds Unlimited, Middletown.

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April 14, 2016 Two River Times