Pollinators and How to Attract Them to Your Yard
Written by Scott W. Holland.
By definition, a pollinator is anything that helps carry pollen from the male part of the flower, the stamen, to the female part of another flower, the stigma. This movement of pollen, or pollination, must occur for the plant to become fertilized and produce fruit and seeds for regeneration. Even today, an amazing 75% of the world’s flowering plants depend on animal pollinators to reproduce.
The top four animal pollinators in the world today are: bees, birds, butterflies and bats. Of the four, bees are the largest pollinators of the bunch, responsible for pollinating over 110 different crops that we use and eat every day. As for our feathered friends, the U.S. Forest Service has identified over 2,000 different types of birds that are considered pollinators. The most prolific of these pollinating birds in North America is none other than the Ruby-throated Hummingbird, found mainly in the eastern half of North America, these little birds are responsible for pollinating over 1,000 different plants and flowers.
Hummingbirds get their name from the sound their beating wings make when flying or hovering. One unique feature of the hummingbird is their shoulder anatomy which enables them to beat their wings in a figure-eight pattern which creates lift on both the up and down stroke. Couple this with their ability to beat their wings over 3,000 times per minute and you have yourself a precision guided aerobatic pollinator. While birds are not used in commercial pollinating environments like bees are, they still provide a vital contribution to our ecosystem’s sustainability by pollinating many different types of wildflowers and trees. If you’re looking to attract hummingbirds to your yard there are a few plants that work better than others. These are, wild Geraniums, Golden Alexander, Blue Star, Coneflowers, Dogwoods and Honeysuckle. And by integrating early blooming flowers with late bloomers you can have a beautiful garden or window box all season long while providing a steady food source for visiting pollinators.
Another way to attract hummingbirds is to provide a hummingbird feeder. While hummingbirds are attracted to the colours red and orange, the nectar, or food, inside your feeder does not need to be coloured but should be made up from about one-quarter cup of sugar for every cup of water. Even though the colour of the nectar is not important to a hummingbird, the freshness of it is. Change the sugar-water out before it gets cloudy or discolored and remember that during hot weather, sugar-water ferments rapidly which produces toxic alcohol. While hummingbirds get most of their energy from nectar, they will also eat insects and spiders, particularly during breeding season.
A word of caution though, if you have a cat, or there are cats in your neighborhood. Be careful about where you place your feeders, as some cats have learned to lie in wait to catch visiting hummingbirds.
If you’re lucky enough to see a hummingbird or two this summer, sit back and enjoy the sights and sounds of this little natural wonder.