Birds

How to Create a Hummingbird Garden

" Hummingbirds are some of the most beautiful and unique organisms on the planet. Native only to the Americas, hummingbirds provide important ecosystem services as they quickly fly from flower to flower, pollinating much faster and over considerably larger areas than insect pollinators do. In Northern California you can see five species of hummingbirds at various times of the year depending on their migratory patterns: black-chinned, Rufous, Allen’s, Costa’s and Calliope, while Anna’s hummingbirds can be seen year around.

Unfortunately, due to large-scale global development, climate change, the simplification of insect and plant communities, habitat loss and a variety of other human-caused influences, researchers consider nearly 15% of hummingbird species vulnerable to extinction." -

We can help the hummingbird UC Davis

Hummingbird plant lists

It is true that these birds are mainly attracted to tubular, red-pigmented flowers, from pale orange to deep purple, but their curiosity will take them to any colorful flower, they may surprise you! Incorporate plants with colorful, tubular flowers that provide a succession of blooms throughout the year. See list below for recommendations.

• UC Davis' 2018 Recommendations
• UC Davis's recommended Hummingbird Friendly Plants for Central Valley

Hummingbirds Preferences

• Limit Pesticides - Limit your use of pesticides. Ingestion of pesticides can cause fatal harm, not to mention that hummingbirds need soft-bodied insects as essential sources of protein. They also rely on spiderwebs as “glue” to construct their nests. - UC Davis
• Perching and Shelters - Provide a mix of trees and shrubs (preferably flowering) in addition to lower-growing perennials, as hummingbirds like to perch and seek shelter at varying heights. - UC Davis
• Nesting - they prefer native species such as the commonly California Lilac (Ceanothus spp) and Manzanitas (Arctostaphylos)
• Water - if possible, provide a slow-moving, shallow water feature or misters for bathing purposes, but ensure that these waters are kept clean and not contaminated with fecal water. If the water feature does not have a good biofiltering system, then misters would be better to minimize any spread of disease. - UC Davis
• Territorial - Since hummingbirds have to eat twice their body weight in nectar and insects each day, they’re protective of their good food sources in the garden and will fight aggressively to defend them.
• Diets - They prefer a mixed diet of nectar from multiple sources for their daily diet.
• Why Red? Hummingbirds do tend to try the red flowers first but their sugar content is what they really are looking for regardless of color. The general tendency to frequent red flowers is not because hummingbirds like red flowers, but because bees avoid red flowers and the lack of bees means that there is usually better nectar quantity and quality in red flowers." - read more on Las Pilitas Nursery website.