What a delight to see a glimmering, emerald hummingbird poised miraculously in midair, its bill inserted in a flower.
If you live in foothills or mountain regions of the Denver area, particularly in Douglas, Jefferson or Boulder counties, you can attract hummingbirds throughout summer with a variety of flowering plants.
Hummingbirds like tube-shaped flowers. Their bills are adapted to feed on the nectar deep within these blossoms. Common flowers hummingbirds like include evening primrose, honeysuckle, penstemon, petunia, snapdragon and columbine. Other good hummingbird plants are zauschneria, also known as hummingbird trumpet, buddleia, commonly called butterfly bush, and scarlet gilia.
Hummingbirds begin returning to Colorado about mid-April. They generally nest at elevations above 6,000 feet, but even gardens at lower elevations in the metro area may attract hummers in spring and fall as they move through on their way to or from their nesting grounds.
Colorado’s most common hummingbird, the broad-tailed, is the familiar emerald- green hummer with the magenta throat (the female is green with a grayish-white throat). It will sometimes nest at lower elevations, particularly near stream courses or along the South Platte River. The trilling whistle of the male broad-tailed hummer zipping around is a sure sign of summer in Colorado.
In midsummer, copper-colored rufous hummingbirds begin moving south along the Rockies from their nesting grounds in the northwest. They may show up in Colorado gardens and yards from mid-July on. Renowned for their aggressive behavior, they may take over your yard and feeders in short order, attacking any broad-tailed hummer that has been feeding happily in that space until then.
The sprightly calliope hummingbird, the smallest bird in the U.S., will also visit metro-area gardens that have lots of colorful flowers. Calliopes are noticeably smaller than other hummers, if that seems possible, and have shorter tails. The males are green with thin streaks of purple on their throats.
Mary Taylor Young
Feeding the fast and furious
Attract hummingbirds to your yard by offering them a nectar solution in a hummingbird feeder.
A simple sugar-water mix will do the trick: 1 part sugar to 4 parts water. Avoid the red-dyed commercial nectars or powdered mixes because they contain chemicals the birds don’t need.
To make your own nectar, heat a cup of water in the microwave (it doesn’t need to boil), then dissolve 1/4 cup of table sugar in it.
Once the syrup has cooled, fill the feeder and hang it where birds can see it.
Hummingbirds are attracted by the color red. As they fly over, they keep an eye out for prospective food sources and if they spot your red-trimmed feeder, they may come in to check it out. You can even tie red ribbons here and there as an added incentive. Discard the old sugar water and clean and refill the feeder at least once a week, more often in hot weather, as the sugar water will ferment and grow mold, a health hazard for the birds.
