Hummingbird, Don't Fly Away! Don't Fly Awaaaaay!

With the end of the dog days of summer, goes the hummingbirds.
We have been cultivating our local population for many years and thoroughly enjoy their company, their chatter and their fearlessness.
Here is a short clip of one of our feeders out back.







We put several feeders up each year but one inevitably gets the most action.
There are a few tricks to building up ones hummingbird population...make sure your feeders are up every year at the same time and IN time for the first arrivals. In our case, we must have our feeders out at the end of the 3rd week of March because we usually view our first hummers around the 1st or 2nd week of April and occasionally at the end of March. The hummers that you fed the previous year will usually return and bring their younguns and others with them. If your feeders are not up when they return, they will go elsewhere. So it's important to have the feeders out in time.
You do NOT need to color your nectar. As a matter of fact, it really isn't that good for the little buggers.
Keep the feeders filled and if the nectar gets cloudy, change it. If you don't it will turn and you'll have a feeder full of vinegar and no hummers.

When hurricane Katrina hit, it wiped out much of the hummingbird population and this is the first year since that we have seen a return of our normal business about the feeder. It's nice to have them back but it is work.
If feeders run dry, they will skidaddle.
Also, contrary to popular belief, DO leave your feeders (or at least 1)up late in the season in case there are any weak stragglers or hummers from farther north still passing through on their migratory path. You will NOT stop the hummers from leaving. They know when it's time to go and feeders or not, they'll head out.
As much as it can be work, we'll miss the little buzz bombs.
Seals & Croft understood.