I am always jealous of my friends when I am over at their homes and see the hummingbirds flying around their garden. They are just so interesting. How can I attract hummingbirds to my garden? LZ

Typically, hummingbirds need to feed every 15 minutes, so if you want more hummingbirds in your life, the easiest way to accomplish that is by providing them with some food.

My wife and I have a hummingbird feeder right outside our window where we eat, so we get to see them up close sometimes. But, far and away, they seem to prefer our hummingbird friendly flowers out in the yard to the feeder, and who could blame them really.

There’s a fun website called www.hummingbirdcentral.com which tracks the hummingbird’s migration northward. Right now, they appear to be down around Dallas, so it shouldn’t be too long before we start seeing them here.

Hummingbirds are the smallest of the North American native birds weighing only about 1/4 of an ounce at about 3.5 inches in length. The sound we hear when they are near is the sound their wings make as they beat around 55 strokes per second while flying.

You may have seen what appears to be hummingbirds dive bombing each other. This is typical male hummingbird behavior when they are either trying to impress a female or attempting to ward off a male who might also be trying to attract the attention of a female. During these dives, the sound of their wings is louder with their wings beating up to 200 beats per second. They might also emit a squeaking sound. Female hummingbirds must find this behavior attractive in a prospective mate.

The hummingbirds we see the most often here are the Ruby Throated hummingbird. Here’s some facts about these interesting little birds.

- Their breast muscles make up about 25% of their total body weight as compared to about 5% in humans.

- Their hearts beat about 600 times per minute and up to 1200 times per minute in times of exertion. Humans average about 72 beats per minute.

- At rest they take about 250 breaths per minute as compared to humans at about 12 breaths per minute.

- While they can live up to 14 years, their average life span is about 3 to 4 years.

- They can fly at about 50 miles per hour, even faster if they are flying with the wind.

I mentioned their migration earlier, well the ones headed for Oklahoma will have traveled more that 2000 miles from Mexico and Costa Rico on their trip. This journey can include 500 miles over the Gulf of Mexico. Pretty impressive for this tiny little bird. They bulk up a bit as they add about half of their body weight in fat to prepare for the trip.

As we see hummingbirds hovering over the flowers or our feeders, it would be easy to assume that their tongue is probably like a little straw. However, they actually drink the nectar with a licking motion at a rate of about 13 licks per second. They also eat insects they have captured while flying. Eating insects is more common when they are raising their young.

To help attract hummingbirds to your garden, a feeder helps, but instead, try to plant some flowers they search out for food. Hummingbirds prefer flowers that are tubular in shape and brightly colored such as honeysuckle, trumpet vine, or salvia. With enough of these types of flowers, you won’t need to supplement their diet with a hummingbird feeder.

The artificial nectar we use to fill our hummingbird feeders can provide a supplemental feeding source, but it does not contain all the nutrients found in floral nectar. Instead, maybe plan on using your feeder at the beginning and the end of the growing season when other more natural sources of nutrition are in shorter supply.

As far as the artificial nectar for your feeder is concerned, there’s no reason it has to be red since red dyes can cause health problems in hummingbirds. You can make your own artificial nectar but dissolving one-part granulated sugar in four-parts of boiling water; no food coloring needed.

Feeders should be cleaned every two to three days, especially during the summer months. When locating your feeder, place it in a shady location that is hard for neighborhood cats to get to.

With feeders, it’s also a good idea to have more than one feeder since hummingbirds can get territorial and aggressive when there is only one source of food. Making sure your hummingbird feeder has some sort of wasp or bee guard to protect the nectar will help make sure your feeder is feeding the intended beneficiaries.

Water features are also a good idea to help provide a source of water for both drinking and bathing. Again, with this water feature, it’s a good idea to rinse it out and provide fresh water every couple of days. See you in the garden!

You can get answers to all your gardening questions by calling the Tulsa Master Gardeners Diagnostic Center at 918-746-3701, dropping by the Extension office at 4116 E. 15th Street, or by emailing us at mg@tulsamastergardeners.org. Photo: OSU Ag. Communications