Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Hummingbirds in the Garden
I’ve been waiting for the hummingbirds to drop by my garden beds while I have my camera in hand and yesterday, they obliged.
Sorry, so many pictures, I couldn’t pick my favorites.
These last two are somewhat blurry but I liked the different angle.
After watching, I began to wonder, do they feed until they’re full? Does the nectar ever dry up? Are they good pollinators? I did some research to learn more about their feeding habits.
Hummingbirds are specially adapted for eating nectar from flowers. They have long beaks and long tongues for consuming the nectar. The tiny birds can maneuver easily around flowers because they fly backward as well as forward and can hover in midair. This hovering ability makes it easy for them to feed from flowers.
Hummingbirds get nectar from plants, and plants get pollinated by hummingbirds. When the birds feed from flowers, they brush against them, and the pollen sticks to their heads and throats. As they go to the next flower to feed, they transfer some of the pollen to that flower. While bees and other insects also pollinate plants in this way, some plants have evolved so that hummingbirds are their main pollinators. Such flowers tend to have petals joined into long tubes and long stamens (the part of the plant that holds the pollen). Stamens are arranged in such a way as to brush against the hummingbird when it feeds on the nectar.
I also learned from other articles that nectar producing plants replenish their nectar daily, some even hourly. I don’t know for sure, but I do know the bees and hummingbirds visit my garden beds many times throughout the day, moving from flower to flower, perhaps after the nectar has run dry.
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 
All beautiful photos, Susanne! I love Hummingbirds. ❤️😊
Thanks so much, John! I love them, too!
😊❤️
Fantastic photos, Susanne
Thanks so much, Don. 😊
You can’t possibly take too many hummingbird photos. LOL
Good to know! 🙂😊
Great photos Susanne and interesting about the nectar replenishment of flowers.
Thanks, Graham. I was curious about whether the nectar ran dry.
Not sure what happened, but we’ve hardly had any hummingbirds this year. We have plenty of squawky ravens. Perhaps they’ve frightened them away.
Interesting. Mine have been pretty regular, though I have friends who say theirs have been missing too.
Love to see them in action!
Me too! 😊
All such lovely shots, no wonder you couldn’t choose a favourite!
Thank you so much! I was happy to finally see them among the flowers while I had my camera in hand!
Wow! Great pictures! 😀
Thank you! 😊😊
Those photos! Wow!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed them!
Stunning shots of the hummers, Susanne! They sure put on a show for you!
Thanks, Terri! I was happy to be sitting nearby with my camera when they showed up!
You always get great shots of them, and I always enjoy looking at them. Keep them coming, Susanne.
Best wishes, Pete.
Thanks so much, Pete. I’d been waiting for them to show up while I had my good camera in hand, and they finally did!
Wonderful to get such a shot of such a tiny and quick bird.
Thank you! 😊
No wonder you couldn’t choose between all those lovely shots. Hummingbirds are fascinating.
Thanks so much. I was happy to sit and watch them! 🙂
I love those whizzing wings. They make such a unique sound.
Yes, me too! 😊