Hummingbirds

I put out a lot of bird feeders (suet and seed) during the winter and we are rewarded with our personal aviary. A couple weeks ago, I noticed a hummingbird flying around so set out a feeder with some nectar. Today, there are five birds feeding. Ordering two more feeders from Amazon. Last summer, it was insane with clouds of birds swarming our one feeder so this time, we will be ready... I have tried other feeders and the one at the link works the best. It may not be as 'artsy' but it takes a good fill of nectar and really attracts the birds. For nectar, use one cup white sugar to four cups water. Bring to a simmer, let cool down to room temp and then refrigerate. Hummingbirds actually eat quite well and get their protein from insects -- their metabolism is borderline so they need all the carbohydrates they can get and sugar is the best. The feeders have an interesting history themselves -- from Hummingbirds.net:

A Little History...
The device pictured at left is an example of the first commercially-available hummingbird feeder. It was designed by Laurence J. Webster of Boston for his wife, who had read a 1928 National Geographic story about feeding hummers from small glass bottles. Sometime between 1929 and 1935, Webster had his design produced by an MIT lab glassblower (possibly James Ryan). In 1947, National Geographic ran an article by Harold Edgerton about his newly-invented strobe flash, which included photos of hummingbirds at Webster's feeder. Interest was aroused, and in 1950 the Webster feeder was offered for sale by the Audubon Novelty Company of Medina, NY.

Fun stuff -- back when I was living in Boston, I had the opportunity to work for the aquarium there and 'Doc' Edgerton was on the board and was over there quite a bit. Since I was into photography, he invited me over to his lab at MIT and I borrowed some of his high-speed flash equipment. We often had marine critters hatching out of their eggs and it was fun to photograph them.