How to Attract Hummingbirds & Take the Best Pictures

Written by: Larry M. Lynch • Edited by: Rhonda Callow
Published Apr 20, 2009 • Related Guides: BBC | Photography Tips

They're fleet, they're fast and they're beautiful. Hummingbirds can be found in many regions of the world and make highly interesting, profitable subjects for digital photography. Use these tips and techniques to attract hummingbirds year after year to your home and get great digital photos.

Are There Hummingbirds Near You?

Look! Over above the flower blossoms – it’s a bee, it’s a bat, it’s a dragonfly?

No – it’s a hummingbird! The hovering winged wonders of nature. Seen any lately?

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No matter where you may live, if there are hummingbirds in the area, then you can attract them and take eye-popping, salable digital photos. Depending on where you live from Spring through Autumn, and in some tropical locales year-round, you can use these simple but effective photography tips to get outstanding digital photos and videos of one of nature’s most spectacular winged creatures. First we’ll examine how to attract them to where you can photograph them. Then we’ll discuss setting up for photography of hummingbirds - they're really fast you know! Next we’ll cover how to photograph them and when for best results. Finally, we’ll cover how to keep them coming back to your yard, patio or porch, year after year.

(Click on any image for a larger view)

How to Attract Hummingbirds

click to enlarge

If there are hummingbirds in your area, you may need to attract them to where you can more easily photograph them. This often means setting up a hummingbird feeder. There are several functional models and styles from which you can choose. You may want to consider a hummingbird feeder model which has a guard over the feeding tube. This prevents other animals and insects such as bees, wasps, other types of birds and, in my area – small lizards (shown here), from poaching the hummingbird nectar and keeping the hummingbirds from feeding. Hummingbirds are very territorial and will fight off other hummingbirds from an area where they’re feeding unless there is an “ample supply” of food. This is usually accomplished by setting up several hummingbird feeders a few feet apart from one another.

Who says that it’s only hummingbirds that can hover? In this short hummingbird and wren video I filmed a wren who has learned to hover for the couple of seconds each that it needs to feed from a hummingbird feeder. It took a week or so for it to develop enough skill to do it. Now it’s a regular feeder. Sometimes the two bird types take turns or simply use different feeding tubes at the same time.

Setting Up the Hummingbird Feeder

Hummingbirds naturally feed on nectar of flowers and on occasion small insects. They will nest in areas of heavy shrubs protected from predators like cats, lizards, reptiles and larger birds. While there is a broad array of “special” hummingbird feed mixes available commercially, for years I’ve simply used a “five or six tablespoons of sugar to a pint of boiled water” solution with NO coloring of any kind added. It has always worked just fine and is really cheap to prepare. It’s important NOT to use honey, syrups or artificial sweeteners in hummingbird feed solutions as these can be potentially deadly. Hang the feeder near a window you can easily access and photograph from while inside. Another hummingbird feeder might be set up in full sunlight outdoors or in an area of open shade beneath a tree branch or large bush. You can work out whether you want different feeders set up in different locations for a variety of digital photo types. Remember that due to their high metabolic rate, hummingbirds feed at least every hour and quite frequently, several times an hour if they can easily do so. Hummingbirds feed by darting in and out, licking up the liquid feed by flicking their needle-thin tongue in and out.

Please continue on to page 2, where you will learn tips & tricks on how to take great pictures of hummingbirds, including recommendations on shutter speed and how to keep the hummingbirds coming back year after year.

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