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How to attract hummingbirds to your yard

A number of readers wrote distressed that they could not seem to attract hummingbirds to their yards. Some had hummingbirds last year but they didn’t see them this year. What to do? Here are some suggestions:

Hummingbirds prefer natural nectar, so try placing a feeder near some of their favorite flowers. If you have window boxes near your window feeder, try planting them with tubular, red flowers. We’ve had great success with ordinary red petunias. Or hang a basket planter near your feeder. Some favorite species are listed at www.hum
mingbirdsociety.org.

Hummingbirds love red so much they’ve been known to approach women with bright red lipstick and try to pollinate red cars. Some people tie a bright red ribbon around the feeder to make it more attractive.

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Remember location is important. Place your feeder(s) out of the wind, and near convenient perching areas on trees or bushes.

Alas, you might be doing everything right and still find no hummers in your yard. Maybe there are fewer bugs near your yard this year. Has a neighbor treated the yard with insecticide? Maybe a favorite nesting site has changed. Maybe a cat has moved into the neighborhood, or your yard is being haunted by a hawk or an owl. Or maybe there’s so much good natural nectar around they don’t need to come to the feeder — though this could change as summer blooms begin to diminish in August.

Or maybe it’s something more serious. If you’re worried, check the data at eBird.org, the online checklist sponsored by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society. Check to see if there’s been a significant change in hummingbird populations in your state and county.

Q. What’s the best formula for making nectar for a hummingbird feeder?

Dikai T., Boston

A. This is an important question at this time of year because many of us do it, so here’s a list. 1) Hummingbirds appreciate sugar-water but care must be taken when making this syrup. One cup of white cane sugar to four cups of water is the only good formula and 2) always boil the mixture 1-2 minutes to kill bacteria and mold. Cool before filling your feeder. 3) Extra syrup must be refrigerated. 4) Change the nectar every 3-4 days. 5) Wash the feeder thoroughly with hot or boiling water and a bottle brush before refilling it. Otherwise you can grow mold that will poison the birds. 6) Never use the red-type syrup sold commercially. If the red syrup gets on their wings it can rot their feathers. Red attracts hummingbirds, but red on the feeder attracts them just as well. 7) Some people make the syrup sweeter — more sugar, less water — to attract more birds, but this is like offering cocaine instead of candy at Halloween. A higher concentration of sugar isn’t good for hummingbirds, and it could keep them from eating enough insects, which are essential to a well-balanced hummingbird diet.

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Q. On wet days, I’m finding red salamanders all over the woods. What are they?

H.M., Jaffrey, N.H.

A. Red efts are one of the no fewer than four life stages of the pond-breeding amphibian variously called the red-spotted newt, the red-spotted salamander, and the eastern newt (though, disappointingly, there is no western newt). This animal has one of the most complicated life histories of any amphibian in Eastern North America — and it’s also one of the most common amphibian species. Which is lucky for us, since it eats leeches and mosquito larvae for much of its life.

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These critters begin life as eggs laid in ponds in early spring. They hatch as long, green, fish-like larvae who breathe through gills that look like fluffy, tufted ears. In fall, they crawl out of the water and transform into bright orange efts. They crawl around through the forests, hiding in leaf litter during dry periods but often coming out in large numbers during a rain (during one rainy climb up Mount Monadnock, Sy counted more than 100 of them!)

The bright orange color is a warning. They’re warning animals not to eat them. (They are toxic in all their life phases, in fact.) You won’t be hurt by handling them, but if you pick one up, do be careful: because of their permeable skin, the sweat on your palms can harm them. So can insect repellent.

Red spotted salamanders may live for two to seven years in this beautiful orange juvenile “red eft” phase. Then, one day, they undergo their final metamorphosis, returning to shallow ponds to transform to aquatic but air-breathing, olive-green adults. The only vestige of their former bright orange color will be spots running down their sides. They may live yet another seven years in this form.

They’re easy to spot in the shallows of ponds in the summer, but you can see them even in winter; they remain active all year, swimming under the pond ice.

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Sy Montgomery and Elizabeth Marshall Thomas are the authors of many books on animals and nature. Send questions on animals to syandlizletter@gmail.com.