Wildlife sightings are one of the highlights of living at the farm. I particularly love to spot hummingbirds because they’re some of our rarer visitors. Sarah in Illinois enjoys her hummingbirds too, and she’s here today with her latest sightings.
Most days I have a to-do list a mile long, but Steve and I still take the time to sit out on our deck, have a drink and throw the ball for Blitz. We also like to watch the hummingbirds.
They seemed to show up late this year. Looking at my garden calendar (see, I use it all the time!) last year the first hummingbirds showed up on May 3. I waited patiently–well not so patiently after friends and family gave me their updates:
While I was mowing I would look over at the feeder every time I made a pass by the house.
After several days, I dumped out the syrup in the feeder and made a fresh batch. I didn’t want them to have any excuse not to stop at my house!
I finally was rewarded with a couple visitors and I shared with my friends on May 12 that I counted 6 at my feeder at one time.
I now have 4-5 regularly visiting through the day. I feel like this is less than I normally have at this time of year, but since they got a late start I am hoping that that is why I have fewer little friends.
I have talked about my love of hummingbirds before, and here is a reminder of how to make your own syrup:
Boil 4 parts water with one part white sugar just until sugar dissolves. Then let cool.
You do not need to add any food coloring. The hummingbirds will find the feeder. You can store the extra syrup in the refrigerator for a few days.
Make sure to keep an eye on your feeder. If the syrup begins to look cloudy or you see bugs, ants or other insects floating in it, throw out the syrup and add fresh.
Anyone else have their hummingbird feeders out? What breed of hummingbirds are in your area? We only see Ruby-Throated around here but I know the west coast gets a much larger variety.
Hummingbird watching sounds like a great way to end the day, Sarah. I’ve seen one bird this year, flitting around Ellie’s diapers as they dried on the clothesline! Apparently he enjoyed the bright colours.
Home on 129 Acres 
We’ve noticed some differences between the hummers at our feeder, which clued us in to the fact that there were more than one. Twice now I’ve seen two fighting over it. Using your rule of multiplying by six, we might have as many as 12 hummers coming around! I don’t know the varieties yet, but there are definitely differences, both in their markings and even in the way they hover at the feeder.