How do I encourage Hummingbirds?

After following your encouraging posts on hummers I went to Home Depot & bought a hummingbird feeder & nectar (Perky Pet) now
question - where do I need to position the feeder ie suitable fixing height etc for best results?
This is new to me so any advice would be appreciated thanks

I try to put mine where i can see them. i really like the little perky pet feeders that stick on the window. low enough to reach to change, where a cat won't have easy pray. i'm not sure where navarre is, panhandle?

Thanks Arlene
Navarre is along the coast from Pensacola (approx25miles)towards Fort Walton, so I do hope they fly this way?

HummerNut will be by, and he knows much more than i do. he sent me a newsletter about winter hummers and they definitely get some winter hummers around there. this is the first winter i've had them and don't think they would have stayed here if i hadn't put up the feeders. when i first saw them i still had loads of blooms, not too many left now. i think though they have a way of finding feeders.

Here in the next few weeks,hummers will start their migration North from Central America.Since they make the 600 mile trip across the Gulf of Mexico without stopping,they'll be pretty hungry when they start to arrive.There's probably a few hanging out around your area right now,but the bulk of them will hit in about a month or so.

You are in an exellent area for getting lots of these little creatures where you live.

Here's what Bob Sargent told me at a hummingbird workshop and banding weekend.(he's the high guru of all things hummer....great book,by the way)

Go get you some surveyors tape.It comes in a roll and is bright pink.Tie it in streamers in your bushes and trees.Hummers can see it from over 1/2 mile away and will come and investigate.I also tie silk poinsettias from Christmas in my trees.

Fill your feeders with 1 part sugar to 4 parts water.No need to boil,just use warm tap water to dissolve it.Store extra in the fridge.I never use the colored nectar mix...we don't like to eat dye,there's no sense in making the birds ingest it either.They'll come anyway....The Bird Maker didn't put colored nectar in flowers either.

Change your water often...about once a week till the temps get over 80...then do it every 3 or 4 days.I never fill my feeders full until birds start coming..less waste.
Never wash your feeders with soap,or put them through the dishwasher.Hot water only.Maybe once a month,wash them in hot bleach water..1 to 10 ratio.The sugar water will neutralize the bleach.

The birds will be looking for feeders when they hit the coast.They need the sugar pretty quick for energy and most know what feeders are for.Later,during nesting season,they will prefer nectar plants because of the tiny bugs that they get out of them.

Very good info Melody. i quit boiling water long ago, glad to hear it's okay.
the ones documented in florida in winter are allen, rufous, and immature ruby throats. the RTs will start being seen in florida in mid february.
HummerNut feeds millions of them, well hundreds. i can't imagine having that many!

Thank you all for the valuable information - this has really cheered me up as moving from a mature English garden which was full of birds & flowers etc to here where I have just a bare yard I can't wait to get started! My husband does not share my enthusiasm for gardening & would rather get the house straight first huh!
I put bird feeders up filled with wild bird seed before even unpacking all our stuff - poor thing

fringeddweller, nice to meet you, you sound like me. 3 falls ago when a hurricane was supposed to come through i secured my hummer feeders first... family thinks i'm nuts. i kind of garden that way too, if i have plants to plant and weeds to pull, i always plant first so they can start growing... of course i always have weeds, but i garden for the critters and myself.

Good information melody! I will try and do that soon. Haven't been outside much to see them lately, I must get busy!

I put up two feeders today...hope it was in time. I watched and watched but didn't see any yet. My neighbor swears they live in her trees. Where do they nest and how?

They nest in the trees. The nests are smaller than the size of a quarter. Very tiny!

OH my gosh, have to get out my binoculars and start looking. I know they live around here somewhere. Do they make nests like other birds just smaller?

Connie, hopefully it'll be back. hummers will probably start migrating before long too. they are really good at finding feeders i think. i didn't see any for most of a day, one came to my window feeder and flew away. i checked the feeders and one was absolutely dry and the one on the window was getting black goo in it. fixed them up and it didn't take long before they were back. i think i saw 3 this morning early, one chasing one off and another scooted up to the feeder for a drink. sometimes i see them a lot, sometimes not for hours, but i see at least one every day a few times. then again, i have corner windows with a feeder out each window by the computer.
did you have bad frost? i still have a few things blooming in protected areas.

Well, not too bad here but it won't be long until everything goes. We have several hard freezes every winter. I still have some things blooming and most things are green with a little damage. I'm just surprised they has made it this long. Did some more cuttings today, I know it is the wrong time fo year but wanted to give them a try before ole Jack Frost got them.

Hummer nests are tiny mud nests. I think they may use a little bit of fine grass or twigs, but mostly it's mud from what I remember. I read something about them in birds and blooms. The eggs are incredibly tiny, too. They are very hard to spot.

They use lichen and feathers to disguise the nest.It will be on a branch that has cover over the top of it..usually one that is small in diameter and gently dipping toward the ground.