Inviting Hummingbirds to Your Home: 4 Easy Ways to Help & Attract Hummers

Ruby-throated Hummingbird Photo: Keith Olstad

There is nothing quite like watching hummingbirds whiz from flower to flower, glistening and hovering like jeweled, little fairies. Among the tiniest of bird species, hummingbirds are highly evolved to survive in their unique ecological niche, migrating thousands of miles each year in synchrony with the flowering of nectar-bearing plants. 

Their high metabolism means hummingbirds are constantly on the move for energy sources and that people- even city dwellers living in apartments several stories up- can provide lifelines for these insatiable showstoppers who must eat once every 10 to 15 minutes and visit between 1,000 and 2,000 flowers per day. 

The 4 keys to attracting hummingbirds to your yard or apartment balcony are planting native plants, hanging a hummingbird feeder, avoiding pesticides, and providing a water source. Note: Before doing  anything to attract hummingbirds or any other birds, make sure your windows are bird safe. To keep hummingbirds safe from window collisions or from getting their delicate bills stuck in window screens, position feeders at least five feet away.

1. Put in Native Plants

One of the best ways to attract hummingbirds is by planting native plants, even if it is just a couple different species. To find native wildflowers, type your zip code into Audubon’s Native Plant Database. 

Photo: Keith Olstad

2. Hang a Hummingbird Feeder

You can also make your own nectar and put it in a hanging feeder. Add one cup white sugar to four cups of boiling water. Stir until the sugar dissolves and let the mixture cool thoroughly before pouring into a hummingbird feeder. Do not use red dyes, buy red-colored nectar from the store or use honey in place of sugar, these ingredients are highly toxic. Keep your nectar fresh, it only lasts a few days in warm weather and will need to be changed frequently.

3. Eliminate Pesticides

In addition to flower nectar, hummingbirds will eat insects, especially when they are feeding their young. They will also use spider webs as a nest building material. Avoiding pesticides in your yard will help ensure a food source for hummers and other birds. Live in an apartment? Check with your property manager to see if they spray and ask them to consider bird-friendly landscaping methods.

4. Provide Water

Hummingbirds like to bathe frequently and get thirsty just like us. Provide your yard with a constant source of water from a drip fountain attachment or a fine misting device. Since all birds need water, you’ll increase the richness of bird species coming to your yard and make even more bird friends.

Territorial, active, and iridescent, hummingbirds are dazzling little marvels. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, the species most common to Minnesota, typically arrive in May to mate and nest. With just a little effort, you can help a hummingbird maintain the sugar high that keeps them going, keep them quenched and coming to your yard or balcony. Don’t have any hummingbirds in your yard yet? Visit them at Longfellow Gardens, one of the city’s hummingbird hotspots.

Marian Weidner is an Audubon Chapter of Minneapolis board member