Up until now, I have always used a commercial hummingbird food mix to put in my hummingbird feeders. Since I have been putting out hummingbird food I have usually seen one bird, at the most two in any given day. Sometimes I don’t see any for several days in a row. The food in the feeders always goes down slowly, so I know someone is drinking it. One day I did catch one of the red bellied woodpeckers, drinking hummingbird nectar from one spout that didn’t have a cover and surprise, surprise, that’s the feeder that goes down the quickest. I don’t mind the woodpecker eating hummingbird food, but it was a little disappointing to realize that I wasn’t getting as many hummingbirds as I thought.

Then I read a blog by someone who regularly provides tips on attracting more birds to your backyard. In this post he was discussing hummingbirds, and he recommended a home made food that is incredibly simple to make. All you have to do is mix one part table sugar with three parts of hot water. Let it cool, and fill the feeders. Well, last week I finally ran out of the commercial food and I’ve been wanting to give it a try. I put out the new food late yesterday afternoon, and today I saw four ruby throated hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris). Three were males with the bright ruby throats and one was a female. All of them went to the feeders as well as perching around the feeding area for a bit. I can’t say for sure that the new food is the reason for seeing more birds today, but I hope it is. I hope this is the start of more hummingbirds coming to the area and hanging around. I’ll keep you posted as time passes, but you might want to try the home made food, too. It’s easy to make, very inexpensive (a lot less expensive than the commercial food), and healthier for the birds than those that contain red dye.