The flower fairies in children's books were probably inspired by hummingbirds: dainty iridescent winged creatures sipping nectar from flowers one minute, gone the next. Their nests are bumps on a branch, with eggs the size of peas or small marbles. These tiny creatures zip along at an average 25 miles an hour, but can do twice that.
Anna's hummingbird is the most common hummingbird in this area year-round. The male's head and throat are covered with ruby-red iridescent feathers, and the female is mostly green.
Hummingbirds eat over half their weight in food daily, visiting a thousand or two flowers each day.
For quick energy, hummingbirds rely on carbs: nectar from flowers. A garden with a profusion of flowers in every season can keep the hummers coming back. The typical flower that attracts hummingbirds is red or orange, with a tubular throat, but they like a diverse diet and will sip the nectar of any flower in bloom, and return to those that provide good quality and quantity.
Because Anna's lives here year-round, plan your garden so something is always in bloom. A garden with 400 to 1000 flowers can support one hummingbird, who visits each flower 2 or 3 times. In the winter months, manzanitas, native currants, and fuchsia-flowered gooseberry are the mainstays, with hummingbird sage starting in late winter and blooming into summer. Western columbines, coral bells, native penstemons, and monkeyflowers start blooming in spring, and for the summer choose from a smorgasbord of cobweb thistle, woolly blue curls, summer holly, red lobelia, hairy honeysuckle, all the native sages, and orange lilies (leopard and humboldt). California fuchsia attracts hummingbirds with its abundant scarlet and orange flowers from July until the first frost.
Native plants that can provide flowers almost year-round include island bush snapdragon, bladderpod, and tree mallow.
Sugar-water feeders also attract hummingbirds, but if you use one be sure to clean it daily to prevent molds from growing. Never use artificial sweeteners, honey, or food coloring. Some purists claim sugar water is empty nutrition, lacking the proteins found in pollen the birds consume along with the nectar, and are concerned that birds who become too reliant on feeders may be compromising their immune systems and reproductive potential.
A garden that supports hummingbirds is also rich in insects. The birds eat aphids, beetles, flies, gnats, mosquitoes, and spiders for protein, fats, vitamins, and minerals, particularly when they are nesting and feeding their babies. Obviously, pesticides and herbicides have no place in a garden that is welcoming to wildlife. Plants that support a diverse insect population include many native trees and shrubs, such as native oaks and coyote brush.
Twiggy plants also provide resting places for hummingbirds. They do sit between flower forays, and they need places to rest and sleep that are protected from predators. Good nesting shrubs are elderberry, manzanitas, and ceanothus. Other twiggy natives for good summer cover include cream bush, redtwig dogwood, and western mock orange. Don't do any pruning from spring until August lest you disturb a tiny nest.
Like flower fairies, hummingbirds bathe in the dew from leaves. They also favor a trickle of water, mist from a small fountain, or a shallow birdbath a quarter-inch deep. Some hummers like flying through sprinklers.
© 2008 Tanya Kucak