Could Your Hummingbird Feeders Attract Bears To Your Backyard?

To many homeowners, a house feels most like a home when there are plenty of natural wonders just outside the door — and plenty of birds fluttering around the yard. Hummingbirds, in particular, can be a lot of fun to watch and come with the added benefit of pollinating flowers and plants. 

Putting up a hummingbird feeder filled with nectar is often the first step homeowners take when aiming to attract more hummingbirds — but it comes with problems. These also attract other pollinators, so you may need to find ways to keep bees away from your hummingbird feeder, first of all. It could also attract other animals, such as certain types of bats and squirrels. It can even attract bears to your backyard, so be mindful of this if you live in an area with bear activity. Because hummingbird feeders are so accessible and easy for bears to reach, they will happily drink from them. The nectar offers plenty of calories and serves as an adequate food source for them. A bear's sense of smell is pretty impressive, so they're able to detect the food source from miles away. 

Although many nature lovers would love to spot a bear in the wild, they can pose a serious threat if they visit your backyard often. Regular visits can endanger kids and pets. To avoid these problems, you may want to rethink your use of hummingbird feeders or look for alternative ways to attract them to your yard.

There are a few things you can do to reduce the chances that a bear will disturb your hummingbird feeder. Placing it up high and out of reach may help deter bears to an extent. However, they're great climbers, so in many cases, they'll be able to access it anyway — if they're motivated enough. 

It can also be helpful to start bringing hummingbird feeders inside once it gets dark. At the very least, this will cut down on bear activity around your feeder at night and will somewhat diminish their reliance on it as a food source. This will also help prevent the nectar from getting used up too quickly by bears and other nocturnal animals. Fortunately, hummingbirds don't typically feed at night anyway. 

If you do find that a bear visits your hummingbird feeder, it's probably best to remove it for a few days. This will help prevent bears from getting accustomed to it and will make it less likely that they'll return. If all else fails, you may want to consider removing your hummingbird feeder permanently and relying on other strategies to bring hummingbirds to your backyard and garden. One of the best ways to do this is to start growing flowers and plants that hummingbirds like. A few other tweaks to your yard can help attract them as well.

There are many different plants and flowers that hummingbirds absolutely love, and growing them can attract more of them to your yard. Doing so can be a safer way to attract hummingbirds since it won't come with the risk of attracting bears at the same time. To start with, consider adding more red flowers to your yard. The color is very attractive to hummingbirds. Even adding red objects can help bring more of them as well. Some of the best flowers to consider growing in your yard and garden include bee balm, honeysuckle, columbine, and foxgloves.

In addition to growing flowers that hummingbirds will pollinate, consider adding shrubs and plants that they can perch on. Hummingbirds need a place to rest, so this can be helpful to them. You could also try attracting hummingbirds with this easy DIY swing or consider adding a water source. Fountains and bird baths with features such as misters, drippers, and sprinklers can be well worth it. A fountain with running water can be a great source of drinking and bathing water for hummingbirds and can attract them easily. And unlike hummingbird feeders, they won't risk attracting bears at the same time.