June 23, 2020, I read an article on how to attract hummingbirds. The article was very interesting and since I am a photographer, I thought why not try it. I live in Orange County NY. I was about a month behind starting the process, I immediately went to our local Agway store to purchase flowers. The flowers that I was looking for were all sold out a month before, like I said I was behind before I even started. I purchased a hanging basket that was recommended by the owner of the Agway store and a feeder. I made my own food to feed the hummingbirds. I mixed 4- parts water to 1-part sugar. I hung the feeder in a pine tree in the backyard. Knowing I had gotten a late start, I didn’t have much hope. On day 5 a hummingbird appeared. As the days went on there were more and more appearing. I began to photograph these little creatures; I sure wasn’t very good at it. I decided to hang a second feeder in the pine tree. By August the pine trees in my yard were full of hummingbirds and my photos were becoming much better. The last of the hummingbirds left my property the first week of October. I realized I had become addicted to photographing and watching hummingbirds. Their tiny size and unbelievable speed make them a natural wonder.

In the spring of 2021, I planted 2 bee balm flowers, hung 2 hanging flowers and added a third hanging feeder. Plenty of hummingbirds were around for the entire spring, summer, and early fall.

Spring of 2022, I had my son build a raised flower garden and we planted various flowers. 4 hanging feeders and we planted 4 bee balm flowers in front of the raised garden. When the bee balm flowers bloomed it was full of hummingbirds. 4 hanging feeders, 2 hanging flower baskets and the raised flower bed made the spring, entire summer and early fall a very active hummingbird year. I had hummers flying within a foot of me. When I cleaned and refilled the hanging feeders, they would hover around waiting for me to hang it backup. They have all left for their long journey south. Next year more bee balm flowers and other various flowers and probably more hanging feeders.

Spring/summer of 2023, I designed, and my son built a new garden. My goal was to split the yard and have a garden on both sides and draw more hummingbirds. It worked, I had 2 maybe even 3 times the number of hummingbirds for the spring and summer months. Now 2024 and I have made more plans. Last year was a bad year for bees so, I did several different things that worked and some that didn’t. I am currently working on an eBook that I explain everything I did, what worked and what didn’t work. The eBook will be loaded with photos of hummingbirds from this year. I will also include what is working the best as far as the bee problem.