New Yorkers: Skip the Red Dye & Make Your Own Hummingbird Nectar

Yes, birds fly and this is the time of year we'll start to see them in greater numbers, but have you noticed just how many there are flying around already this year?

This year will mark ten years that I've been married to my husband who I've known for about 15 years and I'm embarrassed to admit that I just learned that his favorite bird is the hummingbird.

Had I not been scrolling through my husband's Amazon wishlist, I might not have found out when I did what my husband's favorite bird is. As it turns out, my husband had several different kinds of hummingbird feeders on his list including the plastic red and yellow ones that look like this:

I asked my husband what was up with the feeders and he said he knew it wouldn't be long before he'd see hummingbirds flying around our house and since they were his favorite, he wanted to get feeders to draw them closer so he could see them better.

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I felt awful that I'd never really thought about whether or not my husband had a favorite bird, but there was something in his expression when he told me that led me to believe the story went deeper- like maybe his departed grandma, who he adored, spent time teaching him about birds (turns out she did).

I decided to remove the plastic feeders from my husband's wishlist list and surprise him with colorful blown glass feeders. I know the plastic ones probably work just as well, but I wanted something really beautiful for my husband and his birds. Here's the feeder I picked out:

If you're thinking about getting a hummingbird feeder, please keep in mind that while it's been unproven that red dye kills hummingbirds, adding it to the feeder isn't necessary and if it's not necessary, why would you? Hummingbirds are attracted to the color red, but your feeder will have enough red on it to draw the birds in. According to the Audubon Society, "The color on your feeder is enough to attract them."

Making your own hummingbird nectar is so easy and inexpensive and is much more healthy for the birds than buying storebought dye. Here's how to make nectar that your birds will love: mix 1/4 cup sugar to every 1 cup of water. See? Super simple.

Also, memory bank this trick if your feeder suddenly starts attracting ants: applying petroleum jelly to the hanger will keep the ants from crawling into the nectar.