Keep hummingbirds happy + healthy

Whether you're aiming for a welcoming return or to attract new visitors, follow these tips to create a safe haven

- By Monica Cardoza

When you offer hummingbirds a yard where they can thrive, they will likely come back to delight you with their entertaining antics year after year. The good news is that they require very little-just food, water and protection-and it's easy to set your yard up in a way that helps hummingbirds flourish.

Rose of Sharon, a type of hibiscus, is a well-known favorite of hummingbirds, including this ruby-throat.

OFFER SECURE PLACES TO LAND

Hummingbirds hover, fly backward and dart straight ahead at speeds of 20 to 30 miles per hour-so it only makes sense that they would appreciate a spot to pause and reset. "Hummingbirds like to have a perch," says Sandy Lockerman, a federally licensed bird bander in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, who estimates that she's banded some 4,000 hummingbirds in the past 12 years. "They'll sit and make sure nobody else is coming, watch for bugs and rest," she says.

A perfect perch could be a high, thin branch left to grow beyond the main growth of shrubs. Another option is purchased or homemade swings constructed from wire. Hang them on small trees or posts near nectar-producing flowers and sugar-water feeders, but high enough off the ground to protect from predators such as cats.

Also consider placing a perch near a bath to offer a preening station for wet hummingbirds. The ideal hummer bath is flat, shallow and outfitted with a mister or dripper. Or adapt a deeper traditional birdbath to better suit hummingbirds by filling it with rocks piled atop a small pump that creates a bubbling effect.