Hummingbirds are like mythical fairies with their fast-beating wings while flitting from flower to flower.
When considering pollinators, people usually think of bees and butterflies, but the tiny, jewel-like hummingbirds also play a crucial role. Hummingbirds co-evolved with native nectar plants, each benefiting the other. Hummingbirds pollinate at least 20% of specialized indigenous plant species. Because of this, it is a keystone species (a species which other species in an ecosystem largely depend on), so if it disappeared the ecosystem would be severely altered.
Hummingbird Facts
The world's smallest bird, hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly backwards. With up to 1,260 beats per minute, they have the highest heart rate in the animal kingdom. They have no sense of smell, but have superb eyesight. They have a life expectancy of five to ten years (depending on the species).
Hummingbirds have a very high metabolism and must eat all day. They consume about half their body weight each day while feeding. Nectar from 1,000-2,000 flowers provides 20% of a hummingbird's daily diet, which they drink with a fringed forked tongue in their long beak. Insects provide the bulk of their diet, which includes beetles, aphids, gnats, mosquitoes and wasps.
Hummingbirds are found only in the Americas. There are about 366 species total, most being in Central and South America, with about 25 species found in the United States. Most hummingbirds are migratory, overwintering in Mexico and Central America, migrating north to their breeding/nesting grounds.
Central Valley Hummingbirds
California has about nine species of hummingbirds with four commonly seen species in the Stanislaus County area listed here in order of most abundant to the least:
- Anna's hummingbird (Calypte anna): The only permanent year-round hummingbird, this species is a common sight in many of our gardens. The colorful red-headed male is the largest and most prominent of our local hummingbirds. The fastest of all hummingbirds, it can fly up to 60 miles per hour. Males perform a death-defying courtship dive, plummeting to the ground at speeds and accelerations that put jet pilots to shame. The gray and green females build the nest and care for the young alone, having three broods a year.
- Rufous hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus): The highly aggressive males have beautiful copper-colored backs and bellies. The females have cinnamon-colored sides and tail. These birds are a are seen in local gardens during their spring and fall migrations. Nesting further north than any other hummingbird, they fly up to 2,000 miles (3,200 km) during their migratory journeys to Canada.
- Black-chinned hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri): Another migratory species, it spends winters in Central America while nesting here in the summers. The male has a black face with purple coloring at the base of its throat. The gray and white female builds a well-camouflaged nest in a shrub or tree.
- Costa's hummingbird (Calypte costae): The smallest and least common of our local hummingbirds, they have shorter tails. The males have a distinctive iridescent purple crown and gorget (patch of colored feathers on the throat and/or upper breast). Females are greenish with white underparts and a white eyebrow stripe. They breed and nest here in summers, spending winters in Baja California/western Mexico area.
A Hummingbird Friendly Garden
Providing sugar water feeders is the easiest addition to your garden to attract hummingbirds. Ideally there should be more than one feeder, spaced far apart due to hummingbirds' territorial tendencies, and near nectar-producing plants.
To make the sugar syrup combine one-part white cane sugar to four parts boiling water and let cool. Do not use honey, molasses, brown sugar, agave, artificial sugar, etc. as these can be harmful to hummingbirds. Food coloring is unnecessary since the red color of the feeder will attract the birds. If possible, place the feeders out of direct sunlight. Refill and clean feeders every 3-4 days (more frequently in hot weather) with a bottle brush, hot water, and a little white vinegar (which retards mold). Extra sugar syrup can be stored in refrigerator for a week or so.
In addition to various sugars (sucrose, glucose, and fructose), nectar provides carbohydrates, amino acids, vitamins and oils which sugar feeders cannot provide. So, flowering plants that produce nectar should also be present in your garden to give hummingbirds a diverse, nutritious diet. Hummingbirds favor flowers that are tubular, in red, orange or bright pink colors. Some good choices include penstemons, fuchsias, red salvias, and bee balms.
A hummingbird friendly garden should also include trees and bushes for perching, hiding and nesting, moving water for drinking and bathing, and safety from domestic cats.
An excellent plant list resource provided by UC Agriculture & Natural Resources (UC ANR) and Master Gardener is Plants that Attract Hummingbirds – Zones 8 and 9: https://ucanr.edu/sites/UC_Master_Gardeners/files/287098.pdf
Hummingbird Challenges
Hummingbirds are struggling to find suitable habitat and those that migrate face numerous threats along their lengthy migratory routes. As with many species in today's world, chemicals and climate change present challenges to hummingbirds.
Both the local Rufous hummingbirds and Black-chinned hummingbirds are among those considered to be at risk (https://www.audubon.org/news/how-climate-change-threatens-hummingbirds).
By providing backyard sanctuaries with feeders and native plants we can help support these valuable feathered, jeweled fairies of our gardens, so they can continue to delight us and pollinate our plants.
Additional Resources
https://wildbirdworld.com/hummingbirds-of-california/
https://www.cnps.org/gardening/hummingbird-gardening-5098
Denise Godbout-Avant has been a UCCE Master Gardener with Stanislaus County since 2020.
This article was originally published in May 2023. Revised March 2025.