Hummers- guzzling the gas

Not that kind of hummer! I had seen some hummingbirds a couple of times and finally got a feeder up. It didn't take long for these little guys to find the feeder. I thought it would be fun for the kids to watch. They aren't so interested. I, however, love to watch birds. I miss all the beautiful birds (and trees) we had at our old house. Cardinals, woodpeckers, finches, doves... And once I even had a carrier pigeon visit for a few days. That was cool! He finally "flew the coop" and headed home after his nerves finally couldn't take any more of the friendly cats. So I'm a closet little old lady who likes to birdwatch and talk about the weather. I've even got several field guides for birds. I'm trying to get Sophie interested, and she looks sometimes, but ya know, all she has to say about it is- oh, they're small. And they are! Sometimes I mistake them zooming in for those big dragonflies going about. We can hear their little wings beating as they buzz around and their little beep-beep call. One of them sits in the equally small tree to watch over the feeder, making sure none of the other hummers get too greedy. They do guzzle the sugar water! And they fight over it, too!

They won't be around much longer, but here are some tips if you want your own Hummers: use tap water and plain white refined sugar, one part sugar to 4 parts water. Refill with fresh syrup every couple of days. Don't use red food dye. I bought a cheap feeder at Wal-mart for under $5. That's it! Have fun!