Get the feeders ready. Waves of hungry hummingbirds are about to hit Wichita
Nick and Cathy Clausen spent a few minutes recently getting ready for visitors. About three inches long, those guests won’t take up much room, but they’ll probably arrive hungry.
“These little birds have to fatten up enough to cross the Gulf of Mexico,” said Nick Clausen, who watched as his wife hung a hummingbird feeder from a tree in their backyard.. “They have to almost double their body weight before they make that 500-mile trip. Hard to believe they can do it, non-stop, but they do.”
Clausen said within a few weeks thousands of ruby-throated hummingbirds, the only species of hummingbirds to consistently nest east of the Rocky Mountains, will start their southward migration. Some will be coming from as far north as southern Canada, burning and replacing calories along the way. Mostly hummingbirds feed on nectar from flowers but they’ve also learned to get needed energy from backyard feeders.
“Usually about the first of August is when the activity really picks up,” Clausen said. “Most are gone by the end of September.”
Bob Gress, retired director of the Great Plains Nature Center, and acclaimed wild bird photographer, encourages people to have feeders ready even if they haven’t seen hummingbirds in their yard all summer. As well as migrants, feeders may now attract local hummingbirds, adults and newly fledged young birds that will be actively looking for as much food as possible.
Owners of the Backyard Nature Center, the Clausen’s recommend an artificial nectar of one part sugar and four parts water. No food coloring is needed as the tiny birds are attracted to the red on the tops and bottoms of most feeders. On a recent morning Cathy Clausen only filled her feeders about half-full, saying she’d have to empty them and add fresh nectar within a day or two because of the heat. A male hummingbird was buzzing around the newest feeder within minutes.
Max Thompson, retired biology professor and ornithologist at Southwestern College, said the Wichita area is near the far western edge of America’s ruby-throated hummingbird range.
“You probably get a few that nest over near Hutchinson, but they’d be pretty sporadic,” he said. “You don’t have to go very far east of Wichita to find quite a few more hummingbirds.”
Thompson said hummingbirds start massing around hanging feeders shortly after their young have fledged, which is when they’ve only been out of the jelly bean-sized egg for about three weeks. Their weight doubles almost daily and their voracious appetite continues .Unfortunately it’s sometimes tough for them to find a spot at feeders.
“Hummingbirds are so darned territorial, I don’t think I’ve ever seen two hummingbirds using the same feeder at the same time,” Nick Clausen said. “One usually kind of claims the feeder and tries to drive other birds away it.”
The Clausens have seen hummingbirds drive away birds as large as bluejays that sit too close to their feeder.
To help feed as many bird as possible, the Clausens suggest people put up at least two hummingbird feeders in their yard. He recommends they be placed where they can’t be seen from each other.
“After it feeds, the (dominant) hummingbird usually flies up to a perch where it can watch the feeder and drive others off,” Nick Clausen said. “If he can see both, he’ll probably try to protect both. It would probably be best to do something like setting one back behind a bush, or maybe around the corner of a house. You want as many hummingbirds to be able to come in and feed as possible.”
This story was originally published July 22, 2017 at 5:55 PM with the headline "Get the feeders ready. Waves of hungry hummingbirds are about to hit Wichita."