Lost Mule Lodge

… a journey that began with a cabin in the woods

I am grateful to have expert friends…  and a phone to connect with them.  We all have the friend who just GETS IT…  the one you call when you can’t stop laughing, and when you hear them “snort laugh” you know you called the perfect friend.

There is the friend who is an expert decorator – who finds hours of entertainment admiring the newest color chart from Sherwin Williams. And who with just a phone call will drive 150 miles, grab a paint roller in one hand and a glass of wine in the other hand and start painting your laundry room or help rearrange your living room.

I am really lucky to have the decorator friend and the “Gets It” friend all wrapped up in one…  talking to you Mary Kay.

Then you decide to write a blog about hummingbirds and you call your favorite Hummingbird-er friend.

You may have heard her shrieks of joy every April when she catches a glimpse of her first hummer of the season.

Seriously, she has more hummingbirds than I have ever seen.

Zigging and Zagging every which way at hypersonic speeds.

She denies it, but I am pretty sure she is slipping crack into their feeders.

When I called her, she was delighted to offer her advice on her favorite little Ruby Throated creatures.

She assures me this is the recipe she uses, no crack:

Boil 1 cup of water.  Turn off heat.   Stir in 1/4 cup granulated sugar.

When completely cool pour into feeder.

Making it the night before insures it will be cool by morning and ready to fill the feeders.

Also clean, rinse and refresh the feeders every other day.

Below is a video in slow motion that I took last summer of the hummers in our backyard.

Here are some other tidbits she was excited to offer…

Keep feeders out of direct sunlight.

They are attracted to bright colors – but do not add coloring to sugar water.

The more feeders the more hummingbirds you will attract.

Feeding hummingbirds is a commitment.  Once you start you need to continue throughout October, when the last one leaves for his long journey south.

Arriving in April means they will endure some cold wet weather.  This little one had just arrived and had no nest yet.

They fly non stop for 24 hours traveling up to 600 miles and can lose 1/2 their body weight during this journey.

Try to have the feeder fresh and ready for their return.  The scout will be the first to arrive and he will direct the others to your feeder.

Let them know you are waiting to welcome them.

We had 3 feeders last year, this year I will add one more.

I love a good feeding frenzy.

I encourage you to go to  hummingbirds.net and click on Maps, it is a fun and useful website to see when and where hummingbirds are migrating.

If you have an outdoor cat,

please be sure your cat has the correct understanding of the term

“Bird Feeder”.

Special Thanks to My Favorite Hummingbird-er Friend

Maddy Wheeler

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All photos, thoughts, experiences and opinions are my own.

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