Once I stood in the middle of a tall patch of Scarlet Bee Balm (Monarda didyma) while pulling weeds and heard a soft humming noise. I looked up to find a male Ruby-Throated Hummingbird just two feet away, with shimmering green and red feathers, chirping and darting from flower to flower. Although brief, the moment was etched in my memory.
Hummingbirds are magical little creations—to me, the Golden Snitch description in the Harry Potter books conjures up a likeness to them. Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds are tiny (up to 3.5 inches long), can hover and fly in all directions, and have wings that move in a blur in a figure-8 pattern at an average of over 50 beats per second.
But, unlike the gold-and-silver Snitch, Ruby-Throats have iridescent green feathers on the back of their head and body and white feathers below. Females have rounded tails with white-tipped feathers; males have forked tails, red throats, and black chins; and young males don’t have red throats, so they’re often misidentified as females.
Hummingbirds are only found on two continents: North America and South America. There are several hundred species, with about 15 in the U.S. But only the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) is commonly found East of the Mississippi River.
Habitat loss, invasive species, pesticides, and climate change affecting bloom times are causing a decline in populations of some species. Attracting and supporting hummingbirds is integral to learning about them and ensuring their success. We can serve as stewards to cultivate the connection between them and the native flowers that depend on each other.
IMPORTANCE AS POLLINATORS
Ruby-Throats bring movement and color to your garden. Even more importantly, they’re essential pollinators for native plants. Feeding on nectar, hummingbirds collect pollen on their feathers and long needle-like bills and inadvertently cross-pollinate flowers. Some favorites include Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), Trumpet Vine (Campsis radicans), Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens), Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis), and many others. Other native plants are primarily dependent upon them for successful reproduction, including Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis), Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis), Royal Catchfly (Silene regia), and Fire Pink (Silene virginica).
Cardinal Flower’s relationship with the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird is one example of a mutualistic relationship from a long shared evolutionary history. Cardinal flowers have tall spires of long tube-shaped scarlet-red flowers that typically bloom from July–September. Blooms are staggered, starting from the bottom of the flower stalk. The male reproductive organs appear first, produce pollen, then disappear and give way to the female reproductive organs. The head of the hummingbird brushes up against the pollen of the flowers in the male phase—then transfers it to a more mature flower in the female phase to cross-pollinate. Hummingbirds, in turn, get nectar loaded with nutrients to ramp up for their migration in the fall.
MIGRATION
Migration is an incredible feat, hard-wired into the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird’s genetics. It’s thought to be triggered by the shortening and lengthening of days and weather changes and coincides with the blooming in the spring or decline in the fall of their favorite nectar sources and insects. They migrate south individually in the fall, primarily to Central America (sometimes to Mexico or Florida), and need a lot of food for energy to almost double their weight before crossing the Gulf of Mexico. Males often migrate several weeks earlier than females to find food and establish territories. In the spring, they return north to the Eastern U.S. and Canada, often to the same sites yearly.
BRING RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRDS TO YOUR YARD
When you know what Ruby-Throats like, it’s easy to attract and support them. Here are five essential tips:
1. Provide Habitat for Perching, Shelter, and Nesting
Provide open spaces with flowers for food and protected areas with tall shrubs and trees for perching, nesting, and shelter.
If you have a pond, creek, or other wet area on your property, enhance it with native plants and layer in shrubs and trees. They love to nest near water.
Hummingbirds aren’t cavity nesters, so nesting boxes won’t attract them—they prefer the shade of leaves in branch forks. They usually lay two eggs 2–3 times throughout March–July. Females raise their young solo, building the tiny nest from plant materials and cocoons attached with spiderwebs (and sometimes tent caterpillar webs or pine resin).
PLANT MATERIALS for RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD NESTS | ​ |
|---|---|
Lichen | ​ |
Moss | ​ |
Cinnamon Fern (Osmundastrum cinnamomeum) | fuzz from leaves |
Milkweeds (Aesclepias sp.) | fluffy seedheads |
Tall Thimbleweed (Anemone virginiana) | fluffy seedheads |
Tall Thistle (Cirsium altissimum) | +other native thistles; fluffy seedheads |
River Birch (Betula nigra) | catkins |
American Witchhazel (Hamamelis virginiana) | catkins |
Eastern Cottonwood (Populus deltoides) | catkins |
​Pussy Willow (Salix discolor) | +other native willows; fluffy seedheads; also a great source of insect food |
American Hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana) | one of their favorite nesting trees |
2. Ensure a Safe, Healthy Environment
Don’t use pesticides (insecticides and herbicides) or chemical fertilizers on your garden or lawn—if necessary, only spot treat directly on invasive plants if they can’t be pulled up from the roots. Pesticides can kill the insects and plants hummingbirds need and harm hummingbirds themselves.
Replace invasive or potentially invasive exotic ornamental plants with native plants. Even if hummingbirds feed on nectar from those flowers, it won’t benefit them in the long run. Although not always apparent in overly manicured subdivisions, invasive plants spread to natural areas and disrupt local ecosystems, pushing out native plant species. They also don’t provide food for native insects—and hummingbirds need native insects to survive.
It’s best to keep your cats indoors—it’s safer for them and the birds. It’s estimated that domesticated cats kill an average of over 2 billion birds annually in the U.S. alone, so ensure feeders are out of reach of any neighborhood cats.
3. Supply Water
Nectar and insects provide hummingbirds with some water in their diet. They also drink from wet leaves and like misting devices in birdbaths.
They prefer to be near ponds and other wetlands where insects are abundant.
4. Grow Native Plants for Nectar and Insects
The exact amount of insects vs. nectar needed in a hummingbird’s diet seems to vary depending on the source. But both are vital to sustain their high-energy metabolism. When energy reserves are low, hummingbirds enter a state of torpor—the heartbeat slows, and breathing becomes irregular. Be sure to plant an abundance of hummingbird-pollinated as well as insect-pollinated flowers. Provide flowers (and feeders only as a supplement) for Ruby-Throats from March or April to September or October, depending on where you live. You can download apps, like the Audubon Bird Guide (www.audubon.org/app), to find out when the first hummingbird sightings are in spring and the last in fall to determine when they’re in your area.
Insects
The protein and fat from insects provide a long-lasting fuel source as well as food for their young. They eat insects on plants, in spiderwebs, and caught in the air. Sometimes Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds follow Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers who tap trees, especially Sugar Maples. The sugary sap and the insects caught in it provide food. They use their long tongues to eat mosquitoes, gnats, aphids, fruit flies, ants, and even small spiders.
Insects are plentiful near water, so ponds and creeks are great features to have in your yard.
Native insects depend on native plants—choose plants that support their lifecycles.
Let fallen leaves lie in the garden (and avoid weed cloth and heavy mulch), as most insects spend part of their life cycle underground or under leaves on the soil.
Nectar
The sugar and nutrients from nectar supply fast energy. Nectar from native plants provides nutrients and attracts native insects for food.
Choose long-tubed native plants that provide nectar containing the nutrients they need and attract native insects for food. Many of their favorite flowers are red—the scent isn’t a factor in locating food.
Plant large groupings of hummingbird-friendly flowers for a pop of color that signals hummingbirds and helps them conserve energy.
Plan a series of hummingbird favorites to bloom from early spring to fall.
Place flowers in different areas of your yard since Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds are particularly territorial.
Hummingbirds pollinate many flowers—here’s a list with just a sampling. Bolded plant names are some of their favorites native to Greater Cincinnati or the surrounding region. Another long-lasting hummingbird favorite if gaps are in your late summer to early fall garden is the annual Zinnia (Zinnia elegans)—native to hummingbird winter migration destinations and easy to start from seed in the spring. Chart note: bloom times may vary.
LATE WINTER, MIDSPRING (FEB.–APRIL) NECTAR PLANTS | ​ |
|---|---|
​Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) | sap: February–March |
Wild Plum (Prunus americana) | +other native plums; March |
Redbud (Cercis canadensis) | March–April |
MIDSPRING–LATE SPRING (APRIL–MAY) NECTAR PLANTS | ​ |
|---|---|
​Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) | ​ |
Dwarf Larkspur (Delphinium tricorne) | ​ |
Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) | ​ |
Woodland Phlox (Phlox divaricata) | protect from rabbits |
Ohio Buckeye (Aesculus glabra) + Yellow Buckeye (Aesculus flava) | ​ |
Sweet Crabapple (Malus coronaria) | ​ |
LATE SPRING–EARLY SUMMER (MAY–JUNE) NECTAR PLANTS | ​ |
|---|---|
Eastern Bluestar (Amsonia tabernaemontana) | ​ |
Blue Wild Indigo (Baptisia australis) | ​ |
Blue Flag Iris (Iris virginica) | ​ |
Hairy Beardtongue (Penstemon hirsutus) | ​ |
Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum biflorum) | ​ |
Fire Pink (Silene virginica) | protect from rabbits and deer |
Lyre-leaved Sage (Salvia lyrata) | ​blooms into July |
Crossvine (Bignonia capreolata) | vigorous vine that requires maintenance, but not as aggressive as Campsis radicans |
Trumpet honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) | well-behaved vine; can bloom intermittently throughout summer |
Northern Catalpa (Catalpa speciosa) | ​ |
Hawthorns (Crataegus sp.) | ​ |
Honeylocust (Gleditsia triacanthos) | ​ |
Tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera) | ​ |
Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) | ​ |
EARLY SUMMER–SUMMER (JUNE–JULY) NECTAR PLANTS | ​ |
|---|---|
Purple Milkweed (Asclepias purpurascens) | ​ |
Calico Beardtongue (Penstemon calycosus) + Foxglove Beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis) | ​ |
Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) + Butterfly Mlikweed (Asclepias tuberosa) | bloom into August |
Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) | blooms into August, can spread |
American Alumroot (Heuchera americana) | blooms into August |
Michigan Lily (Lilium michiganense) | blooms into August; protect from deer |
Meadow Phlox (Phlox maculata) | blooms into August; protect from rabbits |
Wild Petunia (Ruellia humilis) | blooms into August |
Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) | blooms into September |
Monkeyflower (Mimulus ringens) | bloom into September |
Trumpet Creeper (Campsis radicans) | blooms into September; plant with caution—very aggressive vine only for large areas |
Vasevine (Clematis viorna) | well-behaved vine |
Bottlebrush Buckeye (Aesculus parviflora) | ​ |
SUMMER–LATE SUMMER (JULY–AUG.) NECTAR PLANTS | ​ |
|---|---|
Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) | ​ |
Scarlet Bee Balm (Monarda didyma) + Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) | ​ |
Royal Catchfly (Silene regia) | protect from rabbits and deer |
Hoary Vervain (Verbena stricta) | ​ |
Tall Bellflower (Campanula americana) | blooms into September |
White Turtlehead (Chelone glabra) | blooms into September |
Orange Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) + Yellow Jewelweed (Impatiens pallida) | blooms into September |
Spotted Bee Balm (Monarda punctata) | blooms into September |
Garden Phlox (Phlox paniculata) | blooms into September; protect from rabbits |
Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica) | blooms into October |
Meadow Phlox (Phlox maculata) | blooms into October; protect from rabbits |
Devil’s Darning Needles, Virgin’s Bower (Clematis virginiana) | blooms into September; sprawling vine that requires trimming to keep it off other plants |
​LATE SUMMER–EARLY FALL (AUG.–SEPT.) NECTAR PLANTS | ​ |
|---|---|
Meadow Blazingstar (Liatris ligulistylis) | protect from rabbits |
Obedient Plant (Physostegia virginiana) | ​ |
Rose Mallow (Hibiscus laevis) | ​ |
Swamp Rose Mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos) | ​ |
5. Only Use Sugar-Water Feeders as a Supplement to Their Diet
You can use feeders as an energy source when flowers fail, but sugar water is only meant to be a supplement. Nutritionally, feeders aren’t ideal—sugar water is missing the nutrients found in the nectar of native plants that has evolved with hummingbirds.
Before setting up a feeder, ensure you’re committed to consistently providing fresh sugar water and cleaning thoroughly. You might even see other birds, like downy woodpeckers and orioles, stop by. Studies indicate that the primary cue for hummingbirds to migrate is the change in day length—feeders won’t keep them from going on their way.
Choose a Feeder
Make sure it’s easy to clean—the fewer nooks and crannies where mold can grow, the better.
Don’t choose a feeder with yellow on it (this can attract wasps and bees)—look for red on a feeder to attract hummingbirds.
Make the Sugar Water
Mix one part sugar with four parts water (for example, 1/4 cup sugar + 1 cup water). Always follow this ratio.
Don’t use red food coloring, artificial sweeteners, or honey.
Boil the water and add the sugar to dissolve. Cool before adding to the feeder and store the rest in the fridge for up to a week.
Fill the feeder so the level is at least 1/4 below the top.
Place the Feeder Outside
Place near tall shrubs or trees to provide protected perches.
Don’t place too close to a window. Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds are highly territorial and may run into a window if they see their reflection.
Hang in the shade so the sugar water lasts longer.
Ensure it’s high enough to be out of reach of cats.
Hang several in different locations in your yard since Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds fight over food.
Use a water-filled ant guard if needed.
Clean and Refill Often
Replace the sugar water every 2–3 days (the food can spoil, and mold can grow on the feeder, making birds sick).
Clean the feeder every 2–3 days as well. Use one part bleach to nine parts water or soak the feeder for an hour in one part vinegar to four parts water. Use a small brush to clean out any nooks and crannies. Rinse after with hot water and let dry before refilling.
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'VE CREATED A HUMMINGBIRD HAVEN.
You’ve provided habitat, a healthy environment, water, insects, and native plants for Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds to flourish in your yard.
Engage neighbors if they ask about your gardens—and share the native plants you grow to support Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds. Your garden is the first step toward transforming your neighborhood into a hummingbird habitat corridor.
Happy gardening!
Sources
https://abcbirds.org/bird/ruby-throated-hummingbird/
https://birdwatchinghq.com/hummingbird-nests/
https://heritageconservancy.org/5-native-plants-that-attract-ruby-throated-hummingbirds/
https://grownative.org/learn/native-for-wildlife/nectar-rich-natives-for-hummingbirds/
https://nativeplantherald.prairienursery.com/2020/03/hummingbird-station/
https://norfolkbotanicalgarden.org/perfectly-paired-hummingbirds-and-the-cardinal-flower/
https://ohiodnr.gov/discover-and-learn/animals/birds/ruby-throated-hummingbird
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ruby-throated_Hummingbird
https://www.audubon.org/content/how-create-hummingbird-friendly-yard
https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/ruby-throated-hummingbird
https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/fnr/fnr-249-w.pdf
https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/pollinators/documents/AttractingHummingbirdsFS-1046April2015.pdf
https://www.hummingbirdcentral.com/hummingbird-fall-southward-migration.htm
http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agcomm/pubs/for/for97/for97.pdf
Mizejewski, David. National Wildlife Federation Attracting Birds, Butterflies and Other Backyard Wildlife. Creative Homeowner®. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. 2004.