Hummingbirds at Home

Hummingbirds visit our yards each spring to breed, looking for nectar from our gardens and feeders. Fascinating to watch, hummingbirds captivate us with their magical feats of flight and their showy colors. The Continental US is breeding home to 14 species of hummingbirds, with a few other species making rare appearances.

Recent science reports that flowers are blooming earlier and earlier due to climate change. Some plants are blooming as many as 17 days before the migrating hummingbirds arrive. The impact for migrating and breeding hummingbirds is unknown.

How Can You Help?

Everybody loves hummingbirds, and now you can help scientists understand how climate change may be affecting their migration and breeding habits. Audubon has launched a new program called Hummingbirds at Home. People just like you all around the country will document which flowering plants hummingbirds are feeding on in their backyards as well as whether hummingbird feeders are supplied and used. Audubon researchers will use all the information they gather from citizen scientists to better understand how hummingbirds are impacted by feeders, non-native nectar sources in gardens, shifting flowering times, and climate change.

Want to Get Started?

Click here to visit Audubon’s HummingBirds at Home website and watch the short video that introduces the project. There you can sign up and receive a free ‘app’ for your smart phone, or you can report your sightings right on the website from your desktop computer.

Want a Hummingbird Kit?

Are you a teacher, educator or youth leader? Contact us. Send an email note to Crystal DeMarco at . Or send a donation.

Click here to learn more about our new Hummingbird Kits!

Where Can You Find Us?

Napa-Solano Audubon volunteers will introduce the project during their American Canyon wetlands walks, monthly programs and special events. Please check back for details and event times on our calendar. For questions or local information and activities related to hummingbirds, you can also contact . Volunteers are needed too! Help plan our workshops for teachers & youth, assemble Hummingbirds at Home kits or help with outreach to schools and organizations.

Did You Know These Facts About Hummingbirds?

• A newborn hummingbird is about the size of a honeybee and their eggs are the size of small beans.
• Hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly backwards.
• Ruby-throated hummingbirds fly non-stop across the Gulf of Mexico – 500 miles!
• Flowers are blooming earlier along hummingbirds’ migration routes, perhaps disrupting their breeding cycle.
• Eighty percent (80%) of all birds, including hummingbirds will not live to see their first birthday.
• Hummingbirds are very important pollinators, especially of wildflowers.

Click here to learn how to identify common hummingbirds in Napa and Solano counties.