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Jennifer’s Tip: Attract Hummingbirds to Your RV

| Updated Feb 14, 2016

One of the most enjoyable things we do when we travel is feeding the birds. Hummingbirds, to be specific.

We love these little wonders. Hummingbirds are found only in the Western Hemisphere, from southeastern Alaska to southern Chile, although most live in the tropics. There are more than 300 species of hummingbirds, 12 of which summer in North America and winter in tropical areas.

They are very easy to attract to a feeder and they come very fast.

We have a small feeder that attaches to to the outside window of our Roadtrek CS Adventurous XL. It’s called the Perky-Pet 8 oz Window Mount Hummingbird Feeder. It costs about $9 on Amazon.

Hummingbirds are very active so if there are any in the area you are visiting, it won’t take them long to find you window feeder, even if you have just set it out.

feederI make up a small bottle of sugar water by boiling one cup of sugar in four cups of water. Make sure to use cane sugar only.   If it doesn't say cane on the label it is probably beet sugar.   They probably won't be harmed using beet sugar, but experts at the wildbirdshop.com say anecdotal evidence suggests that the birds strongly prefer cane sugar.   Do not use honey, Jell-O, raw sugar, corn syrup, molasses or brown sugar. Especially do not use artificial sweeteners.  Putting hummingbirds on a diet will kill them.

Bring to a boil then remove from the heat.  Stir it while it is heating until all of the sugar is dissolved.  Don't boil it for long because that will change the ratio as water is boiled off.  The reason for boiling is not to make syrup, but to drive out the chlorine in the water and to kill mold and yeast spores that might be in the sugar.  We keep it in the refrigerator of our RV as we travel

Hummers burn prodigious amounts of energy for their size. They get their name because they flap their wings so fast (about 80 times per second) that they make a humming noise. Hummingbirds can fly right, left, up, down, backwards, and even upside down. They are also able to hover by flapping their wings in a figure-8 pattern.

All that effort burns prodigious amounts of energy, thus their need for real sugar and the ease which you will have attracting them.

Give it a try this in your warm weather travels this year. We have found hummers just about everywhere we have gone,

Jennifer Wendland

Published on 2016-02-14

Jennifer Wendland travels North America with husband, Mike, in a small Motorhome. She has worked with Mike as a television producer and traveled extensively all over the world. She is a self-described "gym rat," enjoying fitness and exercise wherever she goes. She is a certified Water Aerobics instructor and has taught large group classes in leading health clubs for more than 20 years. She and Mike have three grown children and seven grandchildren. They travel about two weeks out of every month. When not on the road, they live in southeastern Michigan.

One Response to “Jennifer’s Tip: Attract Hummingbirds to Your RV”

February 23, 2016at10:55 am, carol snyder said:

Hi Jennifer
Thanks for the great article on the hummers. We feed them at home, but hadn’t thought about doing it on the road. Guess I’ll be making a trip to Wild Birds Unlimited soon for a feeder.
Carol Snyder

Comments are closed.

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