CREATING A HUMMINGBIRD HABITAT

The key word in creating habitats for hummingbirds, or for any kind of wildlife, is variety. Here are some kinds of variety that you should have in your hummingbird habitat.

Sun and Shade

Create areas of sun, partial sun, and shade. If your area is sunny, then plant some trees and shrubs; if it is all in the shade, then open up the forest canopy to let large patches of sunlight in. Having areas of both sun and shade is essential to growing a variety of plants.

Many Levels

Create a variety of levels of vegetation. Have some tall trees, some medium-height trees, some shrubs, some flowers, and some low grassy areas. These different levels will give your hummingbirds choices of where to feed and where to perch to rest or roost.

Lots of Flowers

Plant lots of flowers, both those specially adapted for hummingbirds and others as well. Try to choose species that bloom at different times, so that throughout the growing season you will always have something flowering. Flowers will provide nectar for the birds and will also attract insect visitors on which the hummingbirds will feed.

Just Add Water

Have water available. Hummingbirds do all or most of their drinking at flowers when they sip nectar, but they also need places to bathe. Hummingbirds are resourceful in this regard, using bits of water no matter where they find them. These can include beads of water on a leaf, at the shallow edges of a brook, or even the spray from a sprinkler.

A hummingbird habitat that we have created in our yard.

A broad-tailed hummingbird, male, on a perch in his territory.

You can also put out a birdbath for the hummers. Be sure the birdbath has areas of very shallow water where the birds can stand in water if they choose. We always put a few flat rocks in our birdbath to create different depths.

Nesting Needs

Hummingbirds also need nesting sites and nesting materials. Although it is quite easy to attract hummingbirds to your yard to feed, it is a little harder to know exactly what will make them want to nest there. Certainly the varied habitat mentioned above is a good start, for it provides the female with choices of where to place her nest.

Most hummingbird nests contain downy plant fibers held together with spider silk and coated on the outside with lichens. Your having a wide variety of plants gives the female a choice of nesting material.

When shrub species of willows go to seed in early spring, their seeds are connected to fine filaments to help them disperse upon the wind. These downy fibers often are collected by hummingbirds to make the bulk of their nests. Including willows in your hummingbird habitat thus has two advantages. One is that they provide nest material, and the other is that the birds can feed on the nectar at the willow flowers and on the myriad insects that the willow flowers attract.

A Perch with a View

Hummingbirds are often very territorial over nectar sources. A good habitat always has some perches from which the territorial bird can survey its territory. You might consider creating some good perches with views over the flowers. In our garden, the hummingbirds most often perch on a small dead limb above and behind the flowers or on some other bare tree limb.