Bird feeders are the finest method to see hummingbirds, which bird enthusiasts love. Here's all you need to know about setting up a hummingbird feeder or spotting the tiny bird:
Washington hummingbird species The Anna's Hummingbird lives year-round in Washington. Ed Dominguez, chief naturalist at Seattle's Seward Park Audobon Center, says that wasn't always the case.
"Until the mid-twentieth century, this was a hummingbird that also was down in southern California, northern Mexico," he said.
"But with more and more people planting flowering trees and plants and shrubs through the twentieth century, that made great food for Anna's Hummingbird, and they worked their way north."
When temperatures rise in March, the Rufous, Calliope, and Black-Chinned hummingbirds join it, but only the Rufous is seen west of the Cascade Mountains.
"The Rufous hummingbird migrates," Dominguez remarked. "They spend the winter down in Southern California or Baja California in Mexico, and then they make their way up here."
Western Washington's two hummingbird species can be "very, very difficult to tell apart," said Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture collections manager Rob Faucett, a former ornithologist.
Tips for hummingbird feeders Hummingbird feeders should be filled with water and sugar, not honey, molasses, or brown sugar, according to experts.
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