This Morning Outside

by Diane Porter

July 11, 2010
At Birdwatching Dot Com
Fairfield, Iowa

Hummingbirds were zipping around me this morning and trying to chase each other away from the feeder. They flew so close past my head that I could feel their wing wind on my face.

It seemed as if the rubythroats must be spending more energy on defending their rights to the feeder than they get from drinking its sugar water. It must be worth it to them, though, or they wouldn't do it

And it is SO much fun for me. I can stand quite close to the feeder, and they zip around me as if I were a shrub. Sometimes several birds would actually drink the nectar from it at the same time, but most of the time they were chasing.

No need for food coloring with this feeder. The red base of the feeder attracts them, and the yellow flowers signal where to find the sugar water.

When I first hung it up, I had hummers probing into the center of the flowers within ten minutes.

This Dr. JB's Clean Feeder is really easy to clean. Comes apart into three pieces, all of which are dishwasher safe. The glass bottle screws into the base. To fill it, set it on your counter. The handle folds into a recession, so the bottle is stable and easy to fill.

—Diane Porter

Dr. JB's Clean Feeder

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