The Best Thing To Do To Support Hummingbird Habitat During Fall Migration

A long trip is bound to make anyone hungry. If you get famished on a cross-country flight, just imagine how hummingbirds must feel as they migrate to warmer destinations in late summer and fall. Admirers will be happy to know there are ways to make a garden or porch a restful stopover for these dazzling birds as they travel south from August through November, arriving in warmer climes for the winter. They'll need places to perch, water to bathe in, and nectar for energy. But most importantly, they'll need protein. The best way you can support hummingbirds as they migrate in the fall is to give them a habitat with plenty of insects to eat. This means curbing your use of pesticides. It's a gardening trend that deserves to fade away.

If you've been looking to ditch pesticides, keeping the majestic hummingbirds nourished is a great incentive. You'll also be doing your part to help boost their threatened populations. Many hummingbird species are in decline, with habitat loss among the factors that put the birds at risk. Maintaining a low or no pesticides garden beyond migration season helps in the long term, too. When insect populations are affected, whether by the climate or pesticides use, hummingbirds are left hungry and risk disease. Stop using pesticides and you could also encourage hummingbirds to nest in your yard, especially if you live in the southern or southwestern U.S., where the birds sometimes live year-round.

Hummingbirds normally burn a lot of energy when flying. When they migrate, they expend even more energy. These fast-flying friends could be headed as far south as Mexico or Central America. Fortunately, hummers are able to take in double their body weight every day to gather the strength they need. Insects are hummingbirds' main protein source, and they gobble hundreds of bugs daily. To increase their supply of bugs when they need it most, avoid using pesticides, which have been found to kill bees and other insects that migrating adult hummingbirds consume.

What if you're faced with a severe insect infestation and feel like you need to use pesticides? There are ways to minimize the amount of beneficial creepy crawlies you kill and prevent hummingbirds from ingesting dangerous chemicals. Any pesticides you use should be low-impact and formulated to target to specific pests, like invasive insects. Don't use pesticides as a preventive catch-all. Don't spray pesticides directly on flower blooms where bees and other pollinators spend time. This is important for the hummingbirds' protection, since they'll often snatch feeding insects right off flowers and eat them whole. You don't want them coming into contact with harmful substances.

In addition to stopping the use of pesticides, there are other practices you can put into place to create a hummingbird haven during and even beyond migration. Growing native grasses and flowering plants helps bring in the bugs hummingbirds feed on. They forage for insects among plants in the wild. An easy way to start a hummingbird foraging area is to leave part of your lawn unmowed.

Since hummingbirds don't all migrate together, the best support for them during migration is curtailing your pesticide use. Wait until you're sure even the latecomers have passed through, as some individuals move slowly. Depending on where you live, the end of their fly-through could be October, November, or even later. Some Allen's, black-chinned, and rufous hummingbirds travel south slowly and can be seen into the winter in western states. Black-chinned and rufous hummingbirds have been spotted in Florida in the winter. Some ruby-throated hummingbirds stick around the state all year.

It's a good idea to put out a hummingbird feeder with these stragglers in mind. Later in the fall, nearby nectar-producing flowers (that also attract insects) may have stopped blooming for the season. A feeder stocked with nectar plugs this gap. Fill it with homemade nectar composed of one part sugar to four parts water. A good guideline is to keep feeders outside until at least two weeks after you see the last hummingbird flitting around. If this coincides with very cold weather, you can add homemade or store-bought heating elements to keep your hummingbird feeder from freezing as temperatures drop.