There are plenty of hummers in Miami, just at a different time of the year than the ones in Central Florida. I believe (and I learned this here in the group) they get to your area in October or so and stay through the winter. It is the opposite in central Florida. And though the ruby-throated hummer is the "normal" one nesting east of the Mississippi, a few other species are seen from time to time in the main part of the state, but even more "rare" ones are spotted in south Florida. So YOU could get even more varieties than we do here. Get that hummingbird garden going! "If you plant it, they will come!" Eventually! Tony, the fermented nectar really could make them tipsy, but mostly, it makes them sick, and they won't come back to that feeder again. (Assuming it doesn't kill them.) Hummers DO eat insects, as well as nectar, especially during the nesting season. I've seen them feeding in oak trees, and flying back to their nests, where they feed their young tiny bugs and spiders. If you suspect you have a nesting hummer, watch closely for it. The ruby-throateds build lichen covered nests about the size and shape of a marshmallow, and lay two eggs the size of very small jelly beans. They really aren't much larger than the little white lizard eggs you findin flower pots. When the female sits on the nest, her beak hangs over one side and her tail hangs over the other. The little nest is glued directly onto a branch and is hard to see, unless you spot the female flying to it. They are such fun to watch! I haven't had any this year (or at least haven't spotted any) so I'm planning to add a lot more good plants for them. My coral honeysuckle is blooming well, and I'm hoping it will soon have them coming. Good luck, all you hummer lovers! Marcia

Hi Mary, Where do you live? I live in NW GA zone 7b. I keep a feeder out year round. I replied this on another post: 2 years ago I had a friend that had a Black Chin show up in Nov and an Allen's in Jan. Both stayed for 2 more weeks in Jan. My friend only lives a few miles from me. I didn't see these hummer's last year, yet will hope I will experience them this year. There is a website that tells you what hummers have been spoted in your state. I don't have it at my fingertips at this moment. Should you be interested in it, post here and I will post it back. Happy Hummers! Jean

Sugar water is a little harder to freeze with a 4-1 water to sugar mixture should be good all the way to 21 degrees, a 3-1 mixture should even be better and still be ok for the Hummers. Do NOT fill the glass bottle to the top, leave room for expansion if freezing occurs. Also you can take in overnight and keep warm and put out early in morning before little guys come out. Here is a link that might be useful: More on sugar water freezing point

I'm sorry for not getting back to this sooner, but have been reading responses, while I continued to undo and redo my garden. (Undo = trashing diseased plants, cleaning and bringing in the terra-cotta and decor, gathering the last of the tomatoes for eiither pickling or letting them grow red in cardboard boxes, protecting borderline periennials, cooking and then tossing cream of celery soup - parcel is a bit overpowering - yuck, gathering some plants for composting, etc. Redo = bringing in the herbs and tropical succulents for my attempt at overwintering them, plus bringing in the lettuce and broccoli onto the unheated front porch.) Still not completely done, but the freezing temps have arrived, so not as big a hurry now. It was just too late in the season to plant new shrubs and/or trees, and, with a 16 foot squared yard, even one small tree means, at best, half the yard would be filled with it, considering trees or bushes generally grow as wide as they do tall. It's hard enough to figure out how to fit just the minimum of what I want to grow - considering we both like flowers, herbs, and vegetables from our garden. (The pumpkins were happy accidents, never to be done again -- I hope. LOL) Also, I'm not keeping birds alive to watch a wide variety of them eat my offerings. I can't even see outback from our too high window and I'm in Philly. Our bird population consist of sparrows, starlings, pigeons, and on a rare occasion, robins. I did meet a man, who used to live down the street, who actually had hummingbirds come to his yard (thus the references to several plants hmmingbirds would love), but haven't seen any myelf. My hubby worked at a base with lots of warehousing half a mile from here, and discovered a peregrin falcon was feasting on the pigeons in pme pf the wharehouses, but those birds require accommadations I simply cannot supply (unless I work towards attracting pigeons and rats. LOL) Since most of my life has been in the burbs or country, I do know most of the birds everyone mentione, they just aren't city dwellers. I haven't even seen a chickadee or wren here. I've also only seen a couple of pinecones, including neightbors' Christmas decorations, in the 16 years I've lived here. You'd think a state named "Penn's forest" would plant some pine trees, or leave some around and plant around them, but if they did either, not many have lasted in this city. I did check out the British site linked, which gave me some added ideas, if I run out of regular bird food (cereal with dried fruit in it -- my favorite, too), but kinda hard to figure out the differences in weather for them, since they're more like Seattle cold, not Philly cold. Since my other passion in life is teddy bears, I've come to know some from the UK, and saw pictures of them snowboarding last winter, and I know they brought out their marigolds before we did, so it gives a rough idea of the mild differences. My bears now want to make the birds some grapevine wreathes with dried fruit and millet for them. Not sure how to leave vegetation around for bugs to congregate, since they are usually busy in the bottom of my compost bins (5-gallon plastic buckets and a large plastic trash can all with a bunch of holes in the lower sides and bottoms for easy access for the needed bugs), but will hope the vegetation still left out there will be kind enough to make those piles as they fall apart during the winter. I just hope most of it goes into the containers, so it doesn't end up clogging our drain during rain and snowstorms. (I also hope I don't see the amount of bugs I found last spring in one bin. Folks with bug phobias just shouldn't compost. LOL) Have discovered they do not like sweet peppers or green tomatoes -- not even the squirrels went for them -- but am hoping for our Indian Summer, so a few maggots might pop out of what is left over, since I now know birds need bugs! Thanks for all the ideas and links. I will be asking neighbors for pine boughs and trees after Christmas. Worse comes to worse, they should add some protection from severe storms in the worst of winter for my feathery friends.