Tag: bird watching

A Story in Pictures

In early spring, when the first wave of flowers was only just beginning to bloom, the hummingbirds and the bees were locked in a battle for nectar. I suppose without an abundance of flowers yet, both desperately needed sustenance. Still, it was a bit disheartening to see, at times, the feeders swarmed by bees–so much so that it often became precarious to get anywhere near them. The above story was a rare moment of cooperation.

I know the bees need our help since their decline is on the rise. But leaving things the way they were meant that sometimes the bees completely crowded out the hummers. So, I did what I always do when faced with a problem I don’t know how to solve: I consulted the interwebs.

As I suspected, because it was early spring and not much was in bloom yet, compounded by sometimes chilly mornings, the bees were just plain hungry. Someone suggested putting out a 1:1 sugar-water mixture, which differs from the 1:4 blend that the hummingbirds get. I didn’t want to use any of my hummingbird feeders since the birds might be attracted to it as well, so I settled on using a jar with small holes punched in the lid. I then turned the filled jar upside down and propped it up on two bricks. It looked kind of like this from the website Better Bee (except in this picture they’ve used wood props):

I placed it not too far away from the hummer feeders, but far enough that no one would have a run-in with the bees. Because let me tell you, those guys swarmed to their new feeder, sucking down an entire jar in a day!

Since the bee nectar was much more concentrated than the hummingbird elixir, the bees largely stayed away from the bird feeders. I continued feeding the bees until spring finally sprung all the way, and there were plenty of flowers for everyone. We haven’t had an issue with them since.

Now, I just have to figure out how to keep the ants out of the feeders…