Hummingbirds are a favorite visitor for many gardeners. Found only in North and South America, Utah is fortunate to host several different species of hummingbirds. Some hummingbirds will pass through Utah during their migration from warmer winter homes, but others will settle into nesting mode here.

Hummingbirds are focused on mating, nesting, and rearing young from spring to midsummer, but the real entertainment for gardeners with backyard birdfeeders begins after that when the hummingbirds spend more of their time foraging and exploring or protecting their territories.

The fact that you aren’t seeing any hummingbirds at your new feeder is probably a matter of bad timing. Hummingbirds will migrate back to the area where they were hatched and look for good nesting and mating sites. They tend to stick with a specific area once they find a place that meets their needs. Females will even return to earlier nesting sites. If you want to have them visit your birdfeeder, you need to have it set out earlier in the spring so that a few hummingbirds will find it before they settle in.

Does this mean you aren’t going to see a single bird at your feeder this year? No, it just isn’t as likely as it would have been if you’d set out your feeder in March. Leave your feeder out this year and take good care of it so that there is fresh, clean sugar water if a hummingbird happens by. They have a good memory for where they’ve found food and resources before and may return next year. There’s more you can do to attract hummingbirds to your landscape.

Fernando Vergara, Associated Press

Include a good selection of plants in your landscape to provide nectar for hummingbirds and place them in massed plantings for the best effect. Most people assume that flowers for hummingbirds should be red, and it’s true, they’re attracted to red flowers, but they enjoy other nectar-rich flowers, too.

Salvias, including Red salvia, Agastache, Cardinal flower, Bee balm, Hollyhock, Cannas, African blue basil, and even common bedding plants like Zinnias and Pentas will be visited by hummingbirds. They also love Trumpet vine, but this vine can become a pest and should be planted with caution. Scarlet runner bean is another nectar source for hummingbirds, but the vines need to be deadheaded to keep them blooming. Of course, any of these plants need to be planted in the right place to keep them healthy, vigorous, and blooming.

You may be wondering how any bird can stay healthy on a diet of sugar water. The answer is, they can’t! Hummingbirds also eat pollen and rely on small insects and spiders for their protein needs. Having a variety of pollen and nectar rich plants in your landscape will attract some of these protein sources to your yard. Of course, you’ll want to avoid using broad-spectrum insecticides in your landscape if your goal is having a healthy hummingbird habitat.

Here are some pointers for getting the most out of your hummingbird feeder for you and the birds.

The best recipe for the sugar water in your bird feeder is four parts water to one part granulated sugar. There’s no need to boil the mixture; just stir until the sugar is dissolved. Don’t add red food coloring to the water- most hummingbird feeders have red parts of some kind on them, and that’s all that’s needed. Avoid all the grape jelly, honey, sport drinks, sodas, brown sugar, molasses, corn syrup, raw sugar, artificial sweeteners, and powdered sugar. You’ll find all these ingredients mentioned in online sources, but none of them are healthy choices for hummingbirds.

Courtesy E. Irvine

Put your hummingbird feeder at a height and location where you can see it and enjoy it. Morning sun or dappled shade are best. Full sun can cause the sugar water to spoil or ferment.

Change and clean your hummingbird feeder every 2-3 days in the spring and fall and more often that that when the weather is hot. Change and clean the feeder if the nectar is cloudy.

You’ll save yourself some work if you don’t fill the feeder completely full unless the hummingbirds are emptying it every day. If you find yourself filling the feeder every day, it’s time to add another feeder or two to your landscape. Hummingbirds are territorial, so adding more feeders can reduce squabbles, too.

Washing out the feeder with hot tap water and a brush is usually all that’s needed. Skip the soap unless you see black mold in the feeder.

Hummingbirds know all on their own when it’s time to head back to their winter homes. Get your feeders up in March and leave them up into early winter when you’re no longer seeing hummingbirds.

Courtesy E. Irvine

If you have a hummingbird feeder every year, you may see some hummingbirds. If you have the right plants in your landscape, there’s a good chance you’ll see some hummingbirds. If you have a hummingbird feeder and a good selection of plants, you will see hummingbirds.