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PostPosted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 12:42 pm 
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Location: Watauga,TEXAS
It is time to find your hummingbird feeders, clean them up and get them out. Remember to keep the feeders clean and the nectar changed often, twice a week now will do but more often later in the summer.
Recipe: 1 part sugar
4 parts water
No food coloring, artificial sweeteners or honey!
You can see the Ruby-throated Hummingbird's migration at www.hummingbirds.net


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PostPosted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 8:26 am 
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Location: Plano & land at Dodd City,TEXAS
Thanks! Was just yesterday thinking of when to put up feeders...

Patty

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PostPosted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 9:52 am 
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Location: McKinney,TEXAS
Please tell me more about the wild bird center.
Tony M


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PostPosted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 2:31 pm 
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Location: Watauga,TEXAS
Hi Tony.

We are a retail backyard bird store. My husband, Rex, and I own and operate our store. We cater to the backyard birder with bird seed, feeders, baths and houses, along with other items for us to enjoy in our yards.

We are Dirt Doctor fans, of course! Can't really have birds around you if you're using pesticides and other harmful products.

We tend to get some hummers in the northern migration but most of our visitors come and stay awhile starting in mid-July. We haven't been able to keep any during nesting season. Many of our friends will get hummingbirds now and keep them through the summer and into the fall. Maybe one of these years we'll be that lucky also. Maybe this is the year!

Maureen


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PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 9:02 am 
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Here in McKinney we only see rubies. Some of ours must be residents because they are here thru the summer.
When we lived in Coppell we had black-chinned hummers all sumer long till the Aug. migration when the rubies came in. What a sight (fight) that was for about a month.
Tony M


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PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 9:12 am 
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Location: Dallas,TEXAS
I have never put out a hummingbird feeder before. Are all feeder basically the same or should I be looking for some basic features? I also know about the sugar water solution. Anything I need to know about as far as the best location for the feeders?

I have a home office on the east side of the house and I'd love to have a feeder outside my window.

Thanks for the information

Sandi

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PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 10:23 am 
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Location: Watauga,TEXAS
Hi Sandi,

The best hummingbird feeders, in my opinion, are the ones that are easy to clean and fill along with being attractive to hummers. Many companies now make the disc style and the entire lid comes off for cleaning and filling. You won't need to use bottle brushes anymore. Most of these also have perches for the hummers to rest and some have built-in ant traps so an additional ant moat won't be necessary.

Placing your feeder on the east side of your house will be perfect. It may get the morning sun but it will be shaded in the hot afternoon. The hummers show some magnificent colors in the sunshine too.

Good luck to you. I hope they find you this summer.

Maureen


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PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 8:23 am 
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Sandi, I suspect given your occupation that you have some native plants around that are desirable to hummers. If not, you might try something like Turks Cap where you plan to put the feeders to attract them. They also like a nearby tree or large shrub to set in so they can guard their nectar source.
Tony M


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 Post subject: Attracting hummers
PostPosted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:43 pm 
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When gardening for hummingbirds I have heard it is better to have areas of a similar color, as opposed to mix colors. At least when it comes to attracting the hummers. For example, areas with all red or all yellow flowers work better than areas that are a mixture of colors.

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PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 7:06 am 
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On that side of the house I have some shrubs under the wondow. I will definitely plant some turks cap next to them. How exciting.

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 Post subject: A Peruvian Hummer
PostPosted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 8:57 pm 
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For those interested, the American Bird Conservancy recently posted a video of a Peruvian hummingbird called the Marvelous Spatuletail. While not a U.S. bird, I enjoyed watching the video. This is reportedly the first ever recording of the courtship display of this unusual hummingbird.

Sam Crowe

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