HummingbirdsFlying Jewels in your Xeric GardenHummingbirds are truly amazing. They are the tiniest of birds, with jewel-like colours and non-stop action; they visit each and every flower in your garden.If you’re lucky enough to be on their path as they migrate back and forth from their wintering areas to their nesting grounds you’ll start to see them in early May. First the Rufous Hummingbird will visit, and stay for perhaps a week, then off he goes further north. He only stops to refuel after his journey from Costa Rica perhaps, or maybe Mexico. His final destination is somewhere in Northern British Columbia in mixed woods, bordering meadows with plenty of wildflowers with tubular flowers and insects for feeding his young brood when they hatch. The next few weeks you will bring two or three other kinds of hummingbirds – the Broad-tailed sounding like a tiny sewing machine, Anna’s hummingbird and my favorite, the Calliope, which are only about two thirds the size of the others. The bright pink 'Yosemite Sam' whiskers of the males are spectacular. The females of all kinds are less brightly coloured, and usually smaller and very hard to tell apart. The males are all different and identifiable. If you keep the feeders full of sugar water, they’ll stick around and be very territorial, the Rufous most of all. The male Rufous will determinedly keep all others except his chosen mate from the feeders, making it impossible to feed peacefully, all the while providing their human observers with hours of fun. 
I’ve lived in some areas that routinely see more than twenty hummingbirds at a time visiting, and the ones that are less aggressive can be spotted perched on their tiny claws in bushes, on lawnmowers and any other objects, spaced respectfully around the garden.Making sure you have many different flowers that will bloom in succession all summer will ensure that they have the right mix of nutrients. It’s been suggested that a steady diet of sugar water is detrimental, especially for the youngsters as they try and build up their strength for the great unknown journey to the south in the fall. It’s extremely important to stop feeding later in the summer to get them weaned off onto natural foods. They risk staying too late and as they are so tiny with such a small amount of body mass, they die with the first frost. Certainly helping them with their incredible requirement for calories is a good thing throughout the summer, but keeping them from leaving to get to the warmth that they need is not. Best Plants for HummingbirdsHummingbirds have a long beak, with an additional long tongue to probe deep into the heart of the flower for nectar, so choose flowers that have trumpet or tubular flowers. It’s true that they have a preference for red or orange flowers, but they also visit blue and yellow blooms. They love Penstemon, Salvia, the native blue Clematis and Clematis macropetala, Lobelia cardinalis, Campsis radicans, Ipomoea (the morning glory vine). Some annuals they will visit are Petunia, Nasturtium, and Nicotiana. Wildflowers that will attract them are Castilejea, the Indian Paintbrush, Lillium columbianum, Aquiligia canadensis Plant flowers that will bloom in waves through the summer. Their favorite flowers are those that bloom in a spire with lower flowers opening first, making the nectar available for a long period of bloom. Particularly appealing is the sight of a tiny hummingbird splashing in a bird bath or waterfall, and sometimes you can see them flying through the spray of a sprinkler. They like to be clean too. After their bath, you’ll spot them high in a tree, preening their wet feathers to align them properly and be amazed at how they can do that with the long beak. Interesting facts about Hummingbirds:They are the only bird that can fly in any direction – up, down, sideways and even upside down.When doing what’s called an aerial display, they will zoom upwards to an extreme height, then drop rapidly downwards, making what is actually a sonic boom as they reach the speed of sound, which to us is a tiny popping sound. This is done for a threat display for the benefit of other males in the area, and sometimes the aggressor will aim directly for a competitor and a clinch will ensue, with flared tails, lots of squeaking and buzzing as they sparr with their long beaks. No injuries result, and the victor will fly off at great speed, while the remaining one will return to the feeder, unruffled. Still want more? See the Hummingbird Guide for more fascinating information about these jewels of the garden. For more on the incredible and fascinating forms and functions of flowers, buy a Different Type of Flowers E-Book:
go to Drought Smart Plants home page
|
Wildlife and Birds
Important Visitors to your Xeric Garden
Don't be too quick to condemn insects or spiders - they are useful too. Trying to find out what kind of insects you have? Check the Insect Encyclopedia. Look for your spider on the Spider Identification page.
Many prey insects such as aphids will be attracted to dill or other nectar producing plants. In turn, they will feed wasps, crickets, ladybugs and many other beneficial insects.
You may find that hedgerows are not limited to wildlife habitat, they are also valuable for growing craft supplies.
Xeric gardens truly are the multi-taskers of the the natural world.
Find all pages to do with wildlife in your xeric garden on the Wildlife Site Map.
Like Drought Smart Plants
on Facebook:
