Ruby-throated Hummingbird, August 11, 2024, Photo by Michael J. Rock
Dear
Friends,
Once again, it
has been a long time since we have been in touch. However, we are
thinking of you and hoping that you and your families are staying well and safe
and that you are enjoying the hummingbirds, butterflies, and other summer
creatures of beauty and wonder.
It is such an
exciting time of the year with the great fall migration of hummingbirds coming
in September and we hope that you’ll stop in and share it with us a bit later
this season!
If you need
information about hummingbird feeders, please e-mail Kathi at kathijr@yahoo.com.
Just a reminder, no matter what feeder you decide to use, it must be scrubbed
and cleaned, and the nectar changed every few days or when the nectar is
visibly cloudy, especially when weather is hot and humid. Fermented or
spoiled nectar could sicken or kill a hummingbird. Red dyes are
unnecessary---use ONLY white table sugar (NOT ORGANIC SUGAR, which contains
iron and is toxic to hummingbirds!) and water in feeders. Ant and bee
guards will help keep these insects away from your feeders. Thank you in advance
for caring about your hummingbirds and for all the hard work this
entails!! Use of hummingbird feeders at all points during the hummingbird
season (early May through mid-October) is key and highly encouraged, especially
if you live in an urban area. Despite our huge garden, we still see
hummingbirds use our feeders quite often. Some young birds will never
learn to use feeders though and will only feed from flowers, but other birds
will primarily visit feeders. Feeders also help on very rainy days when
flower nectar is diluted or washed away, very early in the morning or at dusk,
or on a very cold day as we approach the days of fall.
Hummingbird feeders help to identify your garden as one designed for
hummingbirds and the red on the feeder will bring hummingbirds into your city
or suburban garden (hummingbirds can see red for up to ¼ mile away!). The
extra work involved in maintaining feeders has been very worthwhile for
us. If you have any questions about the use or maintenance of feeders, please
don’t hesitate to ask us.
We saw our first hummingbird, an adult male Ruby-throat on May 4
(May the 4th be with you!), a pristinely beautiful adult male.
We had a very active May in terms of hummingbird sightings but then the bottom
dropped out in June and we hardly saw any hummingbirds. Our July was much
improved, and our hummingbird activity is good in August. We hope
this will continue to increase as we get closer to our upcoming Hummingbird
Garden Tours. We hope you have been seeing many hummingbirds and that you
have been enjoying your hummingbirds and gardens.
That brings us to
our major topic for this communication, our
upcoming Hummingbird Garden Tours.
The dates of the tours are SUNDAY,
SEPTEMBER 15, 1-5 P.M. and WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 3-7 P.M. at our
home, 5118 Buffalo Trail, Madison, WI 53705. Events will be held
rain or shine (hope for sun!)
-This year, 2024, is our 20th Anniversary of offering
these tours to the community. PLEASE COME AND CELEBRATE WITH US!!
If you have joined us for prior Hummingbird Garden Tours, please bring your
memories to share with us!!
-Please feel free
to bring your own drink in a closed container, Keep in mind that sugary drinks
may attract more insects and we are seeing so many this season.
-We cannot allow
people to use our restroom facilities or enter our home except in an extreme
emergency and we apologize in advance.
-Please do not
bring us food, sugar, or other gifts---while we so much appreciate your
generosity in the past, we ask that you refrain from doing so again this
year. Your presence at our event, your friendship, and your memories are
your gift to us, especially for our 20th Anniversary year!
-Mickey O’Connor
and her “crewe” have generously offered to band hummingbirds in our yard for
the Wednesday September 18 tour only. We are so very happy to have them
back again!
-Larry and Emily Scheunemann will once again be with us to present their fun
and informative class about hummingbirds. The class will occur at 2
p.m. on Sunday, September 15 only.
-The door prize
drawings will occur at 3 p.m. on Sunday and 5 p.m. on Wednesday. You must
be present to win a door prize. Door prizes are contributed by Wildbirds
Unlimited, Christina Ciano and Jeff Buss, and Michael and Kathi Rock.
-We thank
Wildbirds Unlimited for their wonderful support and helping us to publicize
this annual event. We also thank Klein’s Floral for publicizing our
events in their monthly email newsletter.
We thank
Christina Ciano and Jeff Buss for their generous donation of “A Place In The
Garden” DVD’s and for their kind support and friendship.
-All handout
pieces will be available only online at our website or by special request by
e-mailing Kathi at kathijr@yahoo.com.
-We reserve the
right to modify these arrangements as needed and required and to cancel the
event if needed. from contracting COVID-19.
What
Will You See & Experience at our Garden Tours?
-Hummingbirds,
butterflies, dragonflies, and other pollinators, beautiful flowers, and our
pond!
-Hopefully, great
weather, which we have been very lucky to experience for all our past tours
except for one year. Let’s all hope for no rain again this year!
-Door prizes---We
will have a short program and small door prize drawing at each tour (3 p.m. on
Sunday and 5 p.m. on Wednesday.)
-We will be
thrilled to see you all, along with some new friends, once again as we enjoy
hummingbirds together! HERE’S TO 20 GREAT
YEARS OF SHARING AND WE ARE HOPING FOR MANY MORE TO COME!!
A
Few Reminders:
-Many bees and
wasps are present in a garden with so many nectar producing flowers and sugar
water feeders, especially in September. We ask that you be very cautious
and come well prepared if you have a bee or wasp allergy or sensitivity.
Be very careful when walking around our garden that you don’t brush up against
a bee or wasp by accident. If you are allergic or sensitive to bee or
wasp stings, please take precautions. For this reason, we recommend
bringing beverages in closed containers only.
-Only our front
yard is accessible for people with physical disabilities who use a wheelchair
or walker.
-Wear sensible
and comfortable footwear as ground may be uneven or rocky or muddy if it has
rained.
-Photography of
anything in our garden is absolutely allowed and encouraged.
-Minor children
must always be supervised.
-We have a
neighborhood cat who sometimes joins us for the tour, but we ask that you NOT
bring any pets (other than service dogs) to the tours! We strongly
recommend you keep cats indoors!!
If you have any
questions about the Garden Tours, please e-mail Kathi at kathijr@yahoo.com. You can also visit our
website at https://sites.google.com/view/hummingbirdgardening/home (and while you’re there, take a
peek at the beautiful photos, all taken by Michael, and other valuable
information.)
WHERE
WERE ALL THE HUMMINGBIRDS THIS SUMMER?
We keep careful
records of our hummingbird sightings each year and have done so for over 20
years. We couldn’t help but notice that our June sightings were so
extremely slow to non-existent and we received many questions from others in
the Upper Midwest about why their gardens and feeders were also quieter than
usual. It is very discouraging to put work, time and money into a garden (not
to speak of the endless hours spent on hummingbird feeder maintenance) to see
zero to very few hummingbirds. So many things about hummingbirds and
nature in general are often impossible to understand, but we wanted to share
information from a hummingbird bander friend of ours from Minnesota, Don
Mitchell. He feels that we had a milder than normal winter and more rain
than usual in the spring and early summer which encouraged more wildflowers to
grow and thrive, taking the birds away from our urban (even in rural areas
where numbers of birds are usually more) feeders and flowers until the start of
migration (around July 4th) We are also wondering if the many
storms of the late spring and early summer might have destroyed nests which
means that Mothers and babies would not find their way to our feeders and
flowers. It shall forever remain a mystery, but please know that you were
not doing anything wrong. We hope for a more “typical” hummingbird season
next year without the frustrations and struggles we experienced in June 2024!
HOW
TO CHOOSE THE “BEST” FLOWERS FOR HUMMINGBIRDS?
What are key
aspects of a great hummingbird flower?
-Tubular
shape
-Flowers
are red, orange, or purple
-The
flower does not emit fragrance (the leaves of many hummingbird
flowers such as Bee Balm, Agastache, and Salvia guaranitica are very aromatic
but the flowers themselves are fragrance free, identifying them for
hummingbirds alone. Hummingbirds have a poor to non-existent sense of smell.
Bees and butterflies are fond of fragranced flowers and often compete
with hummingbirds for nectar at fragrance free flowers.)
-Nectar
is clearly present at the end of the flower tube (go
ahead, test it for yourself!)
-Blooms
over a long season (something great should always be
in bloom from early May through mid-October!)
It seems that
every season is a bit different in terms of what hummingbirds seem to prefer to
feed from in our garden. Tropical Salvias are still one of our “best”
flowers for hummingbirds and you simply cannot go wrong with Salvia
guaranitica (‘Black and Blue’ is very available locally or online and
Salvia ‘Amistad’ has been excellent this year and our strongest grower, but
there are many others too.) We have seen increased use of Southwestern
salvias this year such as Salvia greggii ‘Radio Red’ and Salvia
microphylla ‘Hot Lips’. Cuphea ‘Vermillionaire’, which
is very available at our local nurseries is another excellent annual for
hummingbirds and is easy to grow in hanging baskets or containers (Cuphea
‘David Verity’ is also excellent but is generally only available by mail
order). The flowers of cuphea are the perfect size and shape for a
Ruby-throated hummingbird’s bill and the plant requires no
deadheading. Both Salvia guaranitica (and the southwestern salvias
do as well) and Cuphea bloom continuously over the hummingbird season and
sometimes beyond, weather depending. Honeysuckle (Lonicera
sempervirens, the ‘Major Wheeler’ variety) has always been great for our
hummingbirds and is a carefree, tough perennial vine that always seems to be in
bloom---if you don’t have this plant in your garden, we highly recommend that
you get one! (never plant Japanese Honeysuckle and be warned that Trumpet
Creeper (Campsis radicans) is very aggressive in the landscape and is not in
bloom for the fall migration) The honeysuckle flowers are a single tube with
sweet nectar at the end, a hummingbird’s delight (not that much different than
the flowers of Cuphea!)! Monarda ‘Jacob Kline’ (brilliant red
flowers) is a key perennial and blooms for a long time during summer, but sadly
this perennial does not bloom for the fall migration in September, but we still
highly recommend this iconic plant for hummingbirds. Salvia coccinea has
also been a winner for us and the hummingbirds and is so easy to grow from seed
or is available as a plant from Klein’s Floral and Kopke’s Greenhouse in
Madison. Canna indica has been wonderful for our hummingbirds this
season and having to dig up the tubers in the fall is a small price to pay for
these beautiful sun and water loving plants! We have many plants in our
garden that we overwintered inside of our sun room and they grow much taller in
their second year, which is helpful for hummingbirds. It is so much more
satisfying to see hummingbirds use the flowers and flowers (annual or perennial)
are a great way to further extend your enjoyment of hummingbirds. IT IS
VERY IMPORTANT TO PLANT FLOWERS AND HANG FEEDERS WHERE YOU CAN EASILY SEE AND
ENJOY THEM!
WHAT
KIND OF SUGAR SHOULD I USE IN HUMMINGBIRD FEEDERS?
Thank you in
advance for helping our hummingbirds with your clean and fresh feeders.
There is sadly so much misinformation about the right sugar to use online and
elsewhere. We all want to provide our hummingbirds with the very best
just as we do for our children and our pets. The safest sugar to use in
your hummingbird feeders is WHITE, REFINED CANE SUGAR. Do not use
honey, stevia, brown sugar, ORGANIC SUGAR, powdered sugar or other designer
sugars. Why not organic sugar---wouldn’t an organic product always be
safer and better for my hummers? Iron and sometimes other minerals (which
can be very beneficial for humans) are added to organic white sugar and those
substances can be harmful to or even toxic to hummingbirds.
The best advice
with hummingbird nectar is to KEEP IT SIMPLE, INEXPENSIVE, AND CLEAR. Use
one part white, refined cane sugar (available from any grocery store, often on
sale) and four parts of hot tap water to help the sugar dissolve (you may boil if
you wish, but this is not necessary.) DO NOT ADD ANY RED FOOD
COLORING. Store unused nectar in the refrigerator in a closed container
for up to two weeks.
Here is advice
from Wildbirds Unlimited on this issue: “We often get
asked what type of sugar is best for hummingbird nectar. According to experts,
you should only make hummingbird nectar using white cane sugar (aka table
sugar). CANE SUGAR IS SUCROSE, WHICH IS THE SUGAR MOST SIMILAR TO FLOWER
NECTAR. Never use raw sugar, brown sugar, agave, turbinado or organic sugar.
These types of sugar products contain iron, which has been found to be highly
toxic to hummingbirds.”
OVERWINTERING
TENDER HUMMINGBIRD PLANTS (We have repeated this article
from last year since so many people ask us about this topic!)
Fall and winter
are coming and soon it will sadly be time to say goodbye to our garden for the
year. Unfortunately, so many of the best plants for hummingbirds cannot
survive in our cold and snowy winters in Wisconsin. It does become very
pricey to purchase new plants every spring in anticipation of the coming
hummingbird season, especially since many of those plants can only be found
online and shipping these days is not inexpensive. We have a good-sized
sunroom with a space heater to minimally heat the room and we are so lucky to
have this space for plant overwintering. The room has skylights and
windows on three sides and the space heater heats it to around 50 degrees,
which is perfect for so many tender plants, especially the Salvia guaranitica
types. The plants often look quite ragged or even go dormant, but most do
come back again once they are outside again in the late spring. Cuphea
also overwinters quite well for us in this room. We feel that the key is
a low temperature that is quite far from freezing (most basements are way too
warm as we’ve found and an unheated garage or shed is too cold) and minimal
watering (overwatering can easily kill an overwintering plant!) There are
a few plants that we’ve found are better treated as annuals and it’s best to
repurchase them every spring, especially the Salvia splendens types and many of
the southwestern salvias and a few other central and South American
salvias. All Cupheas we have in hanging pots are replanted in the ground
in the spring and we get new small plants for the pots (a two inch cuphea plant
can easily fill a 12 inch hanging pot in no time) ---that way we have a
beautiful plant in the ground that is 3-4 feet tall and we are getting two
years out of a tender plant. We also replant most overwintered salvias in
the ground and get new ones for containers, getting two years out of every
plant. If you don’t have a sunroom or a greenhouse, other ways to
preserve tender plants include taking cuttings and collecting seeds---seeds will
not work for every salvia because often the new plant that grows from a seed
will not be like the original plant and some salvias sadly do not set any
seed. With cuttings, you must have a grow light in a warm place and a
commitment to keep the new little plants alive until spring. Here is an
excellent link if you are interested in trying cuttings to make more plants and
to preserve the plants you and the hummers enjoyed so much during the summer
and early fall: https://www.thespruce.com/make-more-plants-with-cuttings-1402474
We
were very lucky this year and had four Salvia guarantica plants and a fuchsia
plant overwinter in our garden OUTSIDE WITH NO PROTECTION AND AWAY FROM THE
FOUNDATION OF OUR HOME. We believe it was the warmer than usual winter
and perhaps the generous rains of spring and early summer. It goes
without saying that we were thrilled about this!
Photo by Michael J. Rock
ARTICLE
ABOUT OUR GARDEN FROM “MIDWEST LIVING” MAGAZINE
This article
about our garden was published in “Midwest Living” Magazine in June 2012 and we
thought it might be of interest to you. It is an excellent summary about
various elements of hummingbird garden in our area of the country.
∞∞∞∞
As the summer winds down hummingbird activity, however, ramps up
as these summer visitors prepare for their trip south in the weeks ahead.
Start a Hummingbird Garden
Learn how to draw the world's tiniest birds to your garden with
these colorful flowers.
Written by Amy McDowell for Midwest Living @ www.midwestliving.com/garden/flowers/hummingbird-garden/?page=0
Tiny Joys
Gardeners Kathi and Michael Rock of Madison, are enchanted with
hummingbirds. "Hummingbirds truly embody the magic, joy and freedom that
we as humans would love to have," Kathi says.
Kathi knows hummingbirds' amazing statistics: They can fly
faster than any other birds and have the largest proportionate brain size. And,
of course, they can hover and snatch insects in midair.
Kathi and Michael first fell in love with hummingbirds a decade
ago after adding a hummingbird feeder to their backyard. Now they have two
dozen feeders and more than a hundred kinds of annuals and perennials to cater
to the tastes and habits of their flying friends.
"We try to have plants that bloom at every point during the
season," Kathi says. The feeders fill in when flowers aren't growing in
early spring and after fall frosts.
The Rocks pass along their 10 years of expertise (now, about 20
years!) by hosting a hummingbird gardening website (www.hummingbirdgardening.net)
and by giving community presentations. They've learned a lot over the years
about hummingbird habits in the Midwest.
Although there are 300 kinds of hummingbirds, the ruby-throated
(left) is the only one common throughout the Midwest. The tiny birds arrive
here in May and June, then leave gardens to build nests in isolated forest
areas. As soon as mating is over, in early July, the males begin to migrate
because they play no role in raising the young. Females head south after their
offspring learn to fly.
"We see an increase in the number of hummingbirds beginning
in early August," Kathi says. "Our peak time in Madison is
traditionally mid-September. By then, most of the adult males are gone, and
we're seeing female and immature birds almost exclusively."
Hummingbirds will dine from flowers of any color, but red
attracts them best. "They can see red up to a mile away," Kathi says.
Flowers with tubular blossoms evolved with hummingbirds, so the
Rocks keep a good supply. Hummingbirds also eat spiders and insects, including
mosquitoes and gnats.
Kathi recommends six plants to get your hummingbird garden
started: perennials honeysuckle, bee balm and cardinal flower, as well as annuals
Mexican cigar plant, blue anise sage and Texas sage.
Bee balm (Monarda didyma) has blooms that
look like starbursts and fragrant foliage. It reaches 3 feet tall and 2 feet
wide. Grow in full sun or light shade. Zone 4. Monarda 'Jacob Klein'(tall
and brilliant red) is the best variety for hummingbirds.
The red or red-orange variety of Honeysuckle (Lonicera
sempervirens) blooms with trumpet-shape flowers on a vine that reaches 10-15
feet long. Grow in full sun. Zone 4.
Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) attracts
hummers with fire truck red blossoms on 2- to 3-foot-tall stalks from late
summer through fall. Grow in full sun or part shade. Zone 2. Other
varieties of lobelia are not as attractive to hummingbirds.
Mexican cigar plant (Cuphea 'David Verity' or
'Vermillionaire') grows 2 feet tall with orange tubular flowers and tips that
resemble lit cigars. It flowers from early summer until frost, grows well in
containers and thrives in full sun. Annual.
Blue anise sage (Salvia guaranitica 'Black
and Blue" is an example of one variety) blooms with purple flowers from
summer through fall. It reaches 2-4 feet tall. Grow in full sun to part shade.
Annual. Note that salvias perennial in zones 3, 4 and 5 do not work well
for hummingbirds.
Texas sage (Salvia coccinea) flowers
prolifically with red flowers summer through fall. It reaches 2 feet tall and
grows easily from seed. Grow in full sun.
Make Your Own Nectar
When your flowers aren't blooming, feeders will help attract
hummingbirds. Mix one part white table sugar (do not use other sugars, honey or
artificial sweeteners) with four parts tap water. Sugar dissolves quickly in
warm water, so there's no need to boil it. When nectar looks cloudy or moldy,
wash the feeder and refill with a fresh batch.
While a traditional feeder is hung off a house or on a stand
near your home, many different varieties are available, including ones that you
can place in the ground (left) at any attractive spot in your garden.
Place feeders and flowers where you can easily see and enjoy them as
hummingbirds visit.
In addition to the above, other annuals that attract
hummingbirds include; Agastache, fuchsias (especially 'Gartenmeister'),
lantana, nicotiana and pentas.
OTHER
NEWS
-2023
Wisconsin Rarities: A very beautiful adult male Rufous
Hummingbird visited a feeder at the Visitor’s Center at Governor Nelson State
Park in Madison during October and November 2023. The bird was banded by
Cynthia Bridge. Here is our photo of the bird and note the silver band on
the bird’s right leg (photo by Michael J. Rock). We helped to
maintain the feeders for this very special bird for about a month and it was an
honor to do so!
An Anna’s Hummingbird was banded in Milwaukee in November 2023 and here is a beautiful photo of that bird!
Wisconsin
has been so fortunate to host many of these Western US visitors over the
years!
-Ailing
Hummingbirds in Mexico City Nursed to Health in Woman’s Apartment:
Hummingbird rehabilitation is a very difficult and demanding process with no
guarantees for a successful outcome. This interesting article describes
hummingbird rehab in Mexico, a land with many hummingbirds: https://apnews.com/article/mexico-hummingbirds-clinic-3f8247ca7957416aa97ccbb7b2f1aca8
We are very lucky to have the Wildlife Center at the Dane County Humane Society
where they have successfully rehabilitated hummingbirds and have the
specialized knowledge and resources to do so. If you ever find an injured
hummingbird, please gently put it into a shoe box and contact the DCHS Wildlife
Center: https://www.giveshelter.org/wildlife-center
-International
Hummingbird Society: We attended the Sedona Hummingbird Festival
this year and it was once again a wonderful experience! We had the great
honor of presenting the very first program of the Festival about Gardening for
Hummingbirds with Salvias. It was very challenging speaking to a national
audience about gardening, which can be very regional, but we felt happy with
our experience. The presentations at the auditorium were very
informative and inspiring and addressed a wide range of topics including
hummingbirds in South and Central America, Arizona, and Alaska, endangered
hummingbirds, wildflowers (which I found so fascinating), hummingbird
photography, and so much more. There was a presentation that fit the
unique interests and needs of any hummingbird lover!! Feeders were set up
right outside of the auditorium and hummingbirds visited all day long.
Shopping at the Hummingbird Marketplace was a lot of fun. Alice Madar, is
the new executive director and did a wonderful job taking the reins from Beth
Kingsley Hawkins and the late Ross Hawkins. To learn
more about the International Hummingbird Society visit their website at: https://www.hummingbirdsociety.org/
or on Facebook.
-2024 PBS
Wisconsin Garden & Landscape Expo, February 7-9, 2025. https://wigardenexpo.com/
We will be presenting our “Gardening for Hummingbirds” seminar and hopefully
another program about use of salvias in a pollinator garden. We hope that
a few of you might join us for this exciting and informative community event!!
-Scientists
Discover The World’s Largest Hummingbird Hiding in Full Sight!!---such an
interesting article that describes how researcher Jessie Williamson from
Cornell discovered and delineated the mysteries of the Giant Hummingbird in
Chile and Peru. https://www.audubon.org/magazine/scientists-discover-worlds-largest-hummingbird-hiding-plain-sight
-New
Hummingbird Tracking Technology---for decades we have relied on traditional
banding methods to track and discover the mysteries of hummingbird
migration. Now there is a new way in our technological age which is being
explored:
In a new collaboration, the Western Hummingbird Partnership (WHP) and the
University of California Riverside have embarked on a study to explore the
potential of tracking technologies in unraveling the mysteries of hummingbird
movements.
New Jersey-based Wildlife Telemetry Company, Cellular Tracking Technologies has
developed a revolutionary lightweight (0.06g) 2.4GHz digitally-coded radio
transmitter, the BlūMorpho, marking a significant milestone in avian tracking.
Remarkably lightweight, this innovative technology promises to revolutionize
our understanding of hummingbird behavior by enabling us to track their
movements using Motus, and even the Bluetooth receiver on any cellular
phone.
However, the application of tracking technologies to hummingbirds presents
unique challenges. Hummingbirds, with their agile and rapid movements, have
distinct flight patterns that differ from other bird species. Moreover, for
migratory hummingbirds, the balance between long-distance travel and survival
amplifies the significance of any additional challenges they encounter along
their journeys.
Our research will test captive hummingbirds to find the best ways to attach
tags, monitor any behavior changes after tagging, and see how the added weight
affects their flight. The study begins this month, and we look forward to
sharing our results and progress soon.
https://celltracktech.com/blogs/news/tracking-the-smallest-birds-in-the-world
This new
technology is clearly in its infancy and it will be interesting to see how it
develops over the next several decades!
THANK YOU &
ENJOY YOUR HUMMINGBIRDS!! See you at the Garden Tours!!
