Friday morning (April 4) as I was reading the newspaper I caught a flicker of something out of the corner of my eye. And realized that it was a hummingbird going to the feeder we had left up through winter months in case we got a stray migrating through. This was the first of the season and I was happy to see it because the little fellows are late this year. They usually arrive mid March when the Armandii Clematis and Lonicera sempervirens Trumpet Honeysuckle Vine start to bloom.
My hubby quickly took down the feeder cleaned it in a bleach solution, added fresh "nectar" and hung it back up.. The recipe for the "nectar" is one part sugar to four parts water. We heat the water in the microwave so the sugar will dissolve and then add a few ice cubes to make up the four parts water. We don't want to burn their throats. And, Please no food coloring.
Put out your feeders now!
And the Bluebirds are Nesting
Two families of Bluebirds have also moved in to our gardens. So if you have not put up your nesting boxes waste no time in putting them out. One of our birdhouses is about ten feet from our front porch so we get a 'bird's eye view' of their comings and goings. To make your blue bird watching even more fun put a birdbath near the birdhouse and pick up some mealy worms. We put our mealy worms on a very shallow copper birdbath every evening and after a few days the Bluebirds will come around every evening for a snack and a bath. Now that's our idea of quality entertainment!
And the Gold Finches
Are here en mass… If you do not have a finch feeder run to purchase one. Ours is wire mesh with no perches and 10 or so birds can cling to it at one time. Don't bother with mesh bags or plastic the squirrels will destroy those in a couple of days. Ours came from the bird store at Vickery Creek.
The result of our fondness for birds is that we are having scrambled eggs and
toast for dinner while the birds are eating premium and expensive bird food.
Guess we really do not need steak, fresh asparagus and garlic mashed potatoes
too often. And since we have the birds for entertainment movie tickets are not
needed.