| Updated 05/14/2006
NWF Backyard Wildlife Habitat #4244
Attracting Hummingbirds and Owls
Note: Orioles will also be attracted by
the plants you grow for the humming birds
| There are four basic needs to attract hummingbirds to your yard.
1. FOOD: Natural Vegetation: Shrubs, flowers that provide nectar and which host insect food. You can provide feeding stations. Do not use honey solutions in feeders as they may produce a fungal disease that is fatal. Hummingbirds not only sip nectar, but also eat tiny insects and spiders.
2. WATER: Needed for drinking, bathing. Natural brooks, rivers, streams, ponds. Provided by you: bird baths, fountains, pools, misters/droppers, or even a shallow pan on the ground.
3. SHELTER and Nesting: Trees and shrubs.
| | PLANT CHOICE: | PROVIDES: | Bee Balm
(Monarda didyma) | Nectar | Bleeding Heart
( Dicentra spp.) | Nectar | Columbine
(aquilegia canadense) | Nectar | Indian Paintbrush
(Castilleja coccinea) | Nectar | | Lantana (Lantana camara) | Nectar | Red Morning Glory
(Ipomoea coccinea) | Nectar | | Verbena (verbena spp) | Nectar | | VINE TYPES: | PROVIDES: | | Clematis | Nectar | Honeysuckle
(Lonicera heckrottii) | Nectar, insects | | Morning Glory ( Ipomea spp.) | Nectar | | Scarlet Runner Bean (Phaseolus coccineus) | Nectar | Trumpet Vine
(Campsis radicans) | Nectar | | SHRUB TYPES: | PROVIDES: | Butterfly bush
(buddleia davidii) | Nectar | | Currant (Ribes odoratum) | Nectar | | Rhododendron | Nesting | | Weigela (Weigela spp.) | Nectar | | Willow, Shrub Species | Seeds are connected to fine filaments which are often used as nesting material. The birds also feed on the nectar of willow flowers and eat the insects that the willow flowers attract. | | TREE TYPES: | PROVIDES: | | Flowering Crab (Malus spp.) | Nectar | Tulip Poplar
(Liriodendron tulipifera) | Nectar | Owls
Owls are beautiful birds which provide early morning music as pairs call to each other. Owls will live in any backyard with mature habitat that supports a variety of other wildlife.
They like mature evergreen trees for roosting. Spare that old mature tree or dead tree owls like them for nesting and perching.
1. Food: Owls prey on small mammals and birds.
2. Water: Offer a source of water for drinking and bathing. Most owls will readily drink and bathe in garden ponds and birdbaths at night
3. Shelter and Nesting: Some owls will take over nests built by crows and hawks, others nest in hollow trees or nesting boxes.
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