Handfeeding Hummmingbirds

I make one style of hummingbird feeder that utilizes small nectar tubes. There's a hole in the red rubber cap and the hummer sticks in his bill to get the nectar much as he does at nectar flowers. The small tubes don't hold a lot, but that is good because hopefully it will all get consumed before the nectar starts to go bad. We keep a soup mug of extra filled tubes in the fridge and Terrie just pops in a full one as needed.

The tubes have an added bonus - after the hummers learn that the tubes contain food, they don't much care what is holding them. Pretty much on a daily basis, Terrie will go out and move the tube-feeder so that the hummers can't see it. Then she holds a filled tube in her hand near the spot where the hummers are used to feeding from the tubes. In just a few minutes, she's hand-feeding a hummer! She took this picture herself with her phone as she was feeding them today. This is really getting up close and personal with them!

Hummingbird fact for today: Sedona, AZ, will be the location of the first hummingbird festival by The Hummingbird Society. The festival is the first weekend in August. Check it out!