Our Texas Bird Banding Team bands thousands of hummingbirds each year in the Texas Hill Country and along the Texas central Gulf Coast. There are generally 3 major factors which affect the presence of hummingbirds at people homes.
- LOCATION. You have to be where the hummingbirds are.
Migration. Ruby-throats tend to follow rivers, creeks, and edges of lakes, bays and the Gulf. Largest migration concentrations usually are along the Coast. Black-chins migrate more inland and north-south oriented rivers and creeks are very good migration corridors.
Homes in isolated woodlots particularly along creeks in ranch country will typically get more visits than homes in a large forest. The birds can locate the isolate woodlots and hone in on them from a long distance. The large forest areas tend to dilute concentrations even though they may have more birds in them.
Position of homes in respect to migration influences use by migrants. Homes located on the north side of a city/town during fall migration tend to get higher use than those further in the community because they are the first sites found and used by the birds when they arrive. Hummer concentrations get diluted at you move into a community because of all of the competition from the neighbors. The reverse orientation is true in the spring.
Breeding. Large breeding concentration of hummingbirds are associated with large areas of habitat which typically do not include the interior of towns. This means large forested areas with a diverse plant community near homes. Black-chins tend to prefer open, park-like oak forests or oak forested savannahs with highest concentrations of birds near rivers and creeks. This means most ranching country in the eastern part of the Texas Hill Country is well suited for the Black-chin. The Ruby-throat is more of an edge species in the eastern forest and occurs where there is a good mosaic of forest structure with an abundance of wildflowers and insects.
- QUANTITY. Hummingbird density frequently is directly proportional to the amount of food available. There seldom seems to be an upper limit of amount of food provided where more hummers are not attracted.
Quantity of flowers do make a difference as an attractant and its ability to hold large numbers of birds. I don’t personally believe there is one best hummingbird flower that you must have in your yard. I believe that the flowers you use must be suitable for hummers, but at the same time attractive to you so that you will be willing to maintain them. Key strategies are too make sure flowers are available in large numbers during all seasons when hummers are present. At my Victoria County banding station, I focus on the availability of shrimp plant from fall thru spring, various sages and Turk’s-cap from spring through fall for my annual/shrub mix, and honey suckle, trumpet creeper and morning-glory vines for summer/fall. I do like coral bean because of its attractiveness but it only last a few weeks in the spring so it is only a minor part of the mixture.
- Diverse Flower Bed with Cotton Provided for Nesting
There is considerable debate about using exotic plants versus natives. The advantage of the natives is that if you have to leave for long trips your natives will likely be alive when you return because they are adapted to the site and environment. Exotics hummer plants tend to require more care, especially inland away from the warmer and moister Gulf Coast. Also, natives tend to reproduce and naturally spread more readily across your landscape.
Feeders. Manage as many as you can safely maintain. I run up to 75 at my banding station on a six acre site. I have seen some homes with 50 feeders on ¼ acre. They had lots of hummers. From the perspective of the hummers, it is the number of feeder ports available to the birds with food, and not the size of the feeder which attracts them. Size of the feeders are for the convenience of the manager. Numbers of feeders is for the convenience of the hummingbirds.
- COMPETITION. Hummingbird numbers are typically diluted by the availability of wildflowers and other sites with hummingbird feeders. Isolated homes in suitable habitat at long distances from neighbors typically will have more birds than individual homes in towns.
During good rainfall years, there is a greater abundance of wildflowers and a lower tendency for hummingbirds to be dependent on feeders. The reverse is true for dry years with few flowers.
