Want hummingbirds in your yard? Experts say start with these 5 things

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As warm weather draws migrating birds back to North America, many of us start watching the yard a little more closely—hoping to spot one of nature’s most dazzling visitors. Hummingbirds, with their jewel‑bright feathers and lightning‑fast wings, are small, swift, and famously hard to catch in action. The good news? It doesn’t take much to attract them. With a few simple yard upgrades—the right plants, properly filled feeders, and safe places to rest—you can turn your outdoor space into a hummingbird haven that supports these tiny pollinators when they need it most.

“Hummingbirds can be very loyal,” says Erika Zambello, communications director for the Audubon Florida Program and a third‑generation birder. Some species, like the ruby‑throated hummingbird, can live up to nine years and often return to the same yards season after season. While large‑scale conservation matters, there are also easy, meaningful steps you can take right at home to help hummingbirds thrive.

1. Start with native plants hummingbirds already recognize

Hummingbirds need a place to eat, hide, and perch. "Make your yard, balcony, or neighborhood park a place birds can come to naturally," Zambello says. "Plant native plants. Hummingbirds love native plants. They love bright plants on the red/orange end of the spectrum, but they'll come to all of them. They're instinctively attracted to native plants."

"Start small," she says. "Pick one!" To find the right native for your yard, visit your local native plant nursery or search the Audubon Society’s bird-friendly native plants database. There are beautiful choices in each region. In the Southeast, for example, the native coral honeysuckle vine with its tubular flowers will attract the ruby-throated hummingbird, while in the Southwest, the California fuchsia is a magnet for Anna’s hummingbird.

2. Add a feeder—but only if you fill it the right way

Hummingbirds are voracious eaters, consuming up to twice their body weight on an average day. The pollinators can tap up to 2,000 flowers and gobble up to 2,000 insects (including mosquitoes) in a single day—but they also appreciate a good, clean feeder. Whether you choose a lightweight plastic feeder that's easy to hang, an artful design, or a bird cam feeder is totally up to you! To a hummingbird, the type of feeder matters less than what's in it.

Skip the store-bought nectar substitute and make a simple 1:4 solution of refined white sugar to tap water. Bring the solution (one part refined white sugar, four parts water) to boil. Mix. Cool to room temperature, refrigerating any leftovers.

"No brown sugar. No honey. No molasses. No substitutions," Zambello urges. "You don't need to make it red. They do like red, so if you have red on your feeder, that's helpful."

Also important: Clean the feeder regularly—every other day if very hot—using hot tap water, Zambello says. Alternatively, you may clean with a weak vinegar solution or hydrogen peroxide, but do not put it in the dishwasher or use dish soap.

3. Make your windows safer before hummingbirds arrive

"Once they're in your yard, you don't want them to die because they smashed into your window," Zambello says. To give them a head's up that a window is ahead, she recommends adding dot decals or markings to the window, closing the blinds, and putting your feeder within three feet of your window (because they can't build the speed to crash from that distance).

4. Give hummingbirds a place to bathe and rest

After all that sticky nectar, they might want a bath—especially during a drought. If you choose to purchase a birdbath, Zambello says to go tall and place it near enough to cover that they can hide but not so close that a cat or other predator will pop out. Most importantly, be sure to clean it regularly.

5. Support hummingbirds beyond your backyard

When you support businesses that support conservation, you help birds. Buying shade-grown coffee helps to fund habitat conservation in places where your favorite songbirds overwinter, like the coffee plantations of Central and South America. Bird-Friendly coffees certified by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center are a good place to start.

"All birds need our help. We've lost 3 billion birds since the 1970s," says Zambello. "[Hummingbirds] need our help across the flyway. We need to protect their breeding areas in North America and we also need to protect their wintering grounds in South America. And we need to make sure as they transit they are safe.

That means turning the lights out in migration corridors so they don't wack into the windows. That means conservation. That means keeping cats indoors so they don't have a hummingbird snack. And it means passing policies to make sure we have plenty of room to feed and breed and move."

Where are hummingbirds?

For a crowd-sourced, birds-eye view of where hummingbirds are now, check out Hummingbird Central's migration map. To track their migration by species, don't miss these in-depth interactive guides on the Audubon Society website and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Fun facts about hummingbirds

• Hummers can fly upside down, sideways, stop on a dime, and they are the only vertebrate animal capable of sustained hovering.
• The smallest of all birds, the bee hummingbird of Cuba weighs 1.95 grams. That's less than a marshmallow.
• During flight, a ruby-throated hummingbird's heart beats over 1,200 times per minute and its wings beat 70 to 200 times per second.
• Some hummingbirds fly at speeds greater than 33 miles per hour.
• The eggs of a ruby-throated hummingbird eggs are the size of a pea.
• Female hummingbirds use spider silk to bond their nests.

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