|
AREA BIRD HIKES - CALENDARS: • Madrone Audubon Chapter -http://audubon.sonoma.net/calendar/calendar.html
• Petaluma Wetlands Alliance - http://www.petalumawetlandspark.org/HTML/Calendar.html
• PRBO HQ - http://www.prbo.org/cms/392
Feeding Birds Properly GREAT PLACE TO ID YOUR BIRD OBSERVATIONS HERE (Free Service) - Scroll and select from the alphabetical list of birds. Contains bird picture, descriptions, sound recording, status and cool facts to assist your ID. (Cornell University's Lab of Ornithology) Bird photography Bill Schmoker's website LEARN ABOUT BIRD BANDING HERE The Birds of North America On Line 700 species (subscription with trial) TIPS ON BIRD COUNTING - - Great tips on how to properly count birds! Cornell's Lab of Ornithology & Birders Digest - Hummer Tips & Recipe: Praying Mantis capture and eat Hummingbirds! Hummer Tips from BirderWatcher's Digest To make sugar solution for hummingbirds, add one part sugar to four parts boiling water (boil the water before measuring, because some water will evaporate away in the process). When the mixture is cool it is ready for use. You can store extra sugar water in your refrigerator for up to one week, but left longer it may become moldy.
Don't add red food coloring to the sugar solution—it is unnecessary and possibly harmful to the birds. Red portals on the feeder, or even a red ribbon on top, will attract the hummingbirds just as well. Important Tips - Change sugar solution every three to five days to prevent mold and deadly fermentation.
- Clean the hummingbird feeder often. Visit our Feeder Maintenance page to find out how.
- NEVER use honey in hummingbird feeders. It readily grows mold that can be dangerous—even fatal—to hummingbirds.
- Do not put any kind of oil around feeding portals to deter insects. Oil might contaminate the nectar, or get on the birds' plumage ruining its insulative properties. If bees, wasps, or ants become a problem, try moving the feeder or see our Feeder Pests and Predators: Insects page for other solutions.
|