Any Day Now We’ll Be Seeing Hummingbirds Back in Oklahoma It’s Time to Get Ready!
While it might not feel like Spring right now, it's certainly on the way and with it comes warmer temperatures, outdoor fun, and hummingbirds. Any day now we'll be seeing hummingbirds back in Oklahoma.
These tiny and beautiful birds are heading our way during their annual Spring migration and will spend the majority of their time right here in the Sooner State throughout the Spring and Summer months.
While there are a great many different species of hummingbirds in the U.S. the Red-Throated hummingbird is the most common here in Oklahoma. Named after its signature dark red throat and white band under its beak. Now is the time to prepare for their arrival and start getting your feeders ready.
We should start seeing them in late March, early April sometime, maybe even sooner. Watch the video below from the YouTube channel Oklahoma Gardening for some great tips and tricks on hummingbird feeders.
I've been lucky that for whatever reason hummingbirds love my backyard, it helps that I have a honeysuckle bush and other flowers and bushes they seem to enjoy. I still put out feeders and birdbaths to attract them.
If you're wanting to have hummingbirds visit the yard having multiple feeders helps. For being so tiny these birds are very territorial and will attack and fight each other over food sources. So the more feeders and flowering plants you have the better. That way there's enough to go around and then some.
You'll definitely want to keep your feeders clean and change out the sugar water often. Otherwise, it could possibly harm the birds or even kill them if you aren't careful. Only use water and table sugar, don't use any dyes or honey in your feeders. Mix 4 parts water to 1 part sugar for the best results.
You should change out your sugar water every 3 days or when you start to see that it's getting cloudy or yellowed. Watch the video above for all the details on feeders and the proper way to mix up sugar water and cleaning/maintenance. I'm looking forward to seeing them in the backyard again!