HUMMINGBIRDS AND ORIOLES (5/22/03)

Bluebirds, hummingbirds and orioles: three magic words on Cape Cod! Although lots of other birds rate highly, that trio tops the charts of our summer resident birds. Bluebirds put in magical appearances at many yards during the winter and have been, no doubt, successfully nesting since March. Anyone who is fortunate to play host to them is everlastingly entranced. However, I have covered them sufficiently in the past, so I won’t comment more fully now.

Hummingbirds, of course, didn’t show up until late April. Some passed on further north, but others have stayed to nest. It’s never too late to put out a feeder, especially if you can place it where you can enjoy the visitors it attracts. Did you know that hummingbirds are truly New World birds, dwelling only in the Western Hemisphere? Although we have fifteen regular-appearing species in North America, only the ruby-throated nests east of the Mississippi. The rest of the 319 hummer species occur in Latin America.

Not only are hummingbirds beautiful, their flight never ceases to amaze viewers. No other bird can move backward, sideways and straight up and down. They also can hover, an accomplishment matched by only a few of the hawks. These acrobatics make up for the fact that they are unable to walk or hop; they can use their weak feet only to grasp twigs as they nest.

Because they use so much energy while feeding, they need to eat fifty to sixty meals per day! Flower nectar and the insects they find inside the throat of a blossom are their main food. Once a pair mates, the male departs the scene, leaving the female to build the nest, incubate the eggs, feed herself and then feed and care for the young! Perhaps female hummingbirds should become the symbol for all single moms!

Perhaps the only help we can give these hardworking gals is to provide them with a specially designed hummingbird feeder, one that dispenses a sugar solution similar to flower nectar. Whether you build your own or buy a commercially available one, be sure that its fill hole is easily accessible and that it is allows you to clean all surfaces with a brush, glass feeders being easier to clean than plastic ones. You should clean these feeders every three days to ensure that mold does not form. Be sure that your feeder has bee guards, small plastic screens that fit over the feeder ports to keep insects away but through which hummers can feed. Whether the feeder has perches or not doesn’t matter. They’ll use the perches if they’re there but will hover if they’re not.

Hang feeders in the shade, as those exposed to a lot of sun tend to leak when the sun heats the air inside, causing it to expand, and out of prevailing winds if at all possible. Feeders that attach to a window with suction cups provide excitingly close encounters! Be sure that there is something red on your feeders; tie a red ribbon on the top if there is no other coloring. You can make the sugar solution yourself by mixing one cup of water with 1/4-cup of sugar (never honey and no red food coloring) and bringing it to a boil. Never make the solution stronger than this 4:1 formula. You can also provide more nourishment by buying the strawberry flavored Instant Breakfast product. Follow the directions on the label for mixing.

Orioles enjoy sugar water feeders, as well, but they also go after fruit, jelly and mealworms. You may use the same formula for sugar water as you do for hummingbirds, or make an even weaker sugar solution. Be sure to boil the mixture for two minutes to retard fermentation when it is outdoors. There are specialty feeders just for orioles, one being saucer-shaped that has openings not accessible to bees and an arrangement that allows for the placing of orange halves and grape jelly. Although I have tried every year to attract orioles to orange halves placed in a container meant just for that purpose, I’ve not met with success. However, it seems that everyone I talk with has no problem getting orioles to dine on the proffered oranges or come for a snack of jelly. Although I’ll be trying again this year, I’m not overly hopeful.

You can garner detailed information of the feeding of hummingbirds and orioles from Donald and Lillian Stokes’s Hummingbird Book and Oriole Book, available from retailers of nature supplies. Enjoy these birds during the spring and summer, for by fall, they’ll have headed south again.

Please send your comments and anecdotes about birds to me in care of the Cape Cod Times, 319 Main Street, Hyannis, MA 02601 or, if you use email, to emiller@seepub.com. I regret that because of an overwhelming amount of mail, I cannot respond to each of you personally. However, I have added a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section to the web page with my current and past bird columns, now found at http://home.attbi.com/~elliemiller/index.html. If you can’t find the answer to your question there, try Bird Watcher’s Digest at 1-800-879-2478 or check out their FAQ at www.birdwatchersdigest.com.

GRAPHIC: Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Photo by Phil Brown (nebirds.plus@verizon.net)