Hummingbirds and honeysuckle vines....

Honeysuckle is my way of thanking the hummingbirds who visit our little backyard.

 They provide so much entertainment for us that back in May, I bought three more Major Wheeler honeysuckle vines for them.

We planted one at the base of the arbor by our backyard gate.

With any luck it will climb over the arbor and I'll be able to watch the hummingbirds who visit it from the deck or the dining room window.

We planted the other two on the front posts of our swingset deck sitting area.

One of the vines was planted on a post right next to the honeysuckle vine that is already growing on our homemade obelisk.

We're hoping that in a few years' time, the honeysuckle vines will grow up the front posts and then start traveling across the old monkey bars!

 While the hummingbirds do visit the hanging fuchsias on the patio, they definitely seem to prefer the honeysuckle.

Of course they also love their feeders, so I always make sure we have fresh sugar water for them. This single feeder hangs from the swingset.

A larger feeder hangs from our mulberry tree. The arrow is pointing to the female hummer resting on one of the branches...

... right before she visited the feeder (how I'd love to have a telescopic camera lens!)

The third feeder hangs from our deck...

... and, as you can see, Mrs. Hummingbird was enjoying her sugar water when I took this photo last week.

 

Photos of our honeysuckle vine on April 28th (left), May 2nd (right)...

... and then a photo taken this evening.

Our oppressive (hot AND muggy) weather has broken and it's been glorious - mid 70's and dry, so I really enjoyed my time in the back yard after supper tonight. And while sitting on the swingset deck I was able to catch videos of both the male and female hummers at the honeysuckle vine (within minutes of each other)...

The male stopped by first...

...  and then the female paid a visit.

One more that I shot of the male.
(You can really see his ruby red throat at the 32 second mark!)

I know I've shared this in the past, but here's a quick way to make sugar water for your hummingbird feeders. It cools down in a fraction of the time that it takes the normal recipe to cool off!

Quick Hummer Solution: Put 1 cup water in saucepan. Put 1 cup sugar in saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring regularly with a wooden spoon to dissolve sugar. As soon as it starts to boil turn off the burner. Add 3 cups very cold water to the sugar solution and stir. And that's it!  Now it will still need to cool down before you fill your feeders (I always check it with my finger to make sure it has cooled enough), but it's just ready so much quicker than boiling the entire 4 parts of water and then having to wait for all 4 parts of water to cool!

I'm linking to Show & Tell Friday at My Romantic Home this week.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Donna

Hummingbird Heaven...

All critters and birds are welcome in our little backyard...

...and that definitely includes the tiniest visitors, our hummingbird friends.

I have four feeders in all. Two of the feeders hang from our swing set deck, one on each side.

I love sitting out here in the evenings because our little hummer(s) always hit at least one, if not both, of these feeders as they rotate around the yard about every 15 minutes or so.

It's a bit hard to see this little guy in the photos so I really cropped them.

But if you look close, you can see him enjoying his sugar water.

From the swing set deck, you can see across the yard to another hummingbird feeder that hangs from the mulberry tree.

And just look at that Lucifer Crocosmia in the foreground, now in full bloom. I have some very lazy hummers this year because they choose to fly right over those beautiful hummer flowers, preferring instead to plunk down at the various feeders!

(So far my Sammy Squirrels have left this window box alone. Remember last year when they dug out all my flowers so they could lay in the cool soil during an oppressive heat wave? Well, we're having another one of those heat waves, so the flowers may not last much longer!)

The white metal 'thing' that the feeder hangs from was a freebie from the dump several years ago. I had no idea what I was going to do with it when I brought it home, but it's the perfect place to hang the mulberry tree feeder.

I was able to get a picture of the female hummer at the mulberry feeder, but it was taken from over on the swing set deck with my zoom on, so again, I'm afraid the quality isn't so hot.

The last hummingbird feeder hangs from the old oak tree next to our deck.

This photo was actually taken last year. I was sitting on the deck right next to the feeder when this little gal came to eat so I was able to get some pretty decent photos of her.

I find myself changing the sugar water every other day in this oppressive weather. I found this great way to speed up the sugar water preparation (which is always 1 part sugar to 4 parts water).

Quick Hummer Solution: Put 1 cup water in saucepan. Put 1 cup sugar in saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring with a wooden spoon to dissolve sugar. As soon as it starts to boil turn off the burner. Add 3 cups very cold water to the sugar solution and stir. And that's it!  Now it still might need to cool down before you fill your feeders (I always check it with my finger to make sure it has cooled enough), but it's just ready so much quicker than having to boil the entire 4 parts of water and then having to wait for all 4 parts of water to cool!

Speaking of cool, I hope you are all taking it nice and slow. So much of the country is suffering from such extremely hot temperatures, as we are here in the northeast. So take it easy, everyone!

I'm linking up to Cindy (My Romantic Home) for Show & Tell Friday so be sure to stop by and visit her and everyone else!

Donna