Hummingbirds in the Yard and Garden

Until this year I never really realized just how cool hummingbirds really were. In September of last year, our family moved to the Front Range Mountains in Colorado. We live at the 8500 foot level, and one thing that is for certain, hummingbirds LOVE it up here!

When we moved up here last year, we bought an RV, and moved to an RV park. Well as luck would have it, there are many hummingbirds in our park. Our 12 year old daughter loves birds, especially hummers, so we bought her a small feeder to hang out behind our trailer. We had no idea what was going to happen next, but within just a few days, we had hummers buzzing all around the back of our trailer feeding from her feeder.

Now here's something very interesting. Our neighbor noticed where the feeder was hanging, and mentioned that the bears would tear up our trailer to get to that feeder, and we should move it to the trees. So we did so, and the hummers found it right away. So we started watching the little birds, and this is what we have discovered about hummingbirds...

Hummingbirds, though quite small, are intelligent little creatures. Our daughters feeder ran out of food, and while she was refilling it, a hummer was waiting to feed. This little hummingbird remembered exactly what branch on the tree the feeder had been in, and when he could not find the feeder in that spot, he went looking for it in the spot our daughter had first placed the feeder! He remembered where the feeder first was, and went looking to see if we had moved it back.

The area where the feeder was placed is wooded with lots of trees, weeds, and bushes. There are I think two hummers, (could be more), that have made this area their playground. It is so neat to sit and watch the cute little birds flying around in the bushes and trees, their little buzzy, chirpy sounds going like mad. That is something we noticed too, the sound they make as they fly, they don't make the noise as they are feeding! We found that interesting.

Having hummingbirds in your yard and garden is so much fun, and really good for learning about hummers too. I never saw a hummingbird just sitting on a tree branch until we moved up here, but I have now, they do it all the time! They even bathe in rain puddles! I thought they were hyper, and always flew around so fast you could hardly see them, LOL They do, but if you set up a little area just for them, they come and visit daily, and you can watch them up close, and it is something to be enjoyed.

I have heard that they will get used to you if you spend time in or near the hummingbird area you set up, and can even be trained to eat out of a red cup of nectar you can hold in your hand! We've not tried this yet, but the birds are used to us, and fly all around while we sit within 20 feet of their feeder! And in the last week, they are coming close to the kids, and allowing our daughter to stand right next to their feeder while they feed!

For more info on hummingbirds, their care and feeding, and how to enjoy this beautiful little bird, you can visit, The Hummingbird Society, All About Birds, and Hummingbirds.Net, or Google Hummingbirds, and a huge list will come up for you. I just picked my three favorites.