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Nature In The Natural State: Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds

In late March and early April ruby-throated hummingbirds returned to Arkansas.

Do you feed hummingbirds? They are attracted to the color red, but dying their sugar water can harm them, so instead provide a feeder with a red cap or base.

Their food should be one part sugar to four parts water. Less sugar, and it will not be as nutritious and won’t attract them. More sugar, and the birds will have problems drinking it because it will be too thick.

Be sure to clean the feeder at least once every five days, and more often if there’s mold on the feeder or the food becomes cloudy. Of course, the best food for hummingbirds is natural, like the flowers of the red buckeye tree, cardinal flowers, lobelia cardinalis, scarlet beebalm, monarda didyma, and our beautiful noninvasive coral honeysuckle, lonicera sempervirens.