For the Birds
Dear Ms.Conover ,
I really enjoyed your information on hummingbirds in the June issue of The Tennessee Magazine.
However, I found one discrepancy. In your response to one of the readers in the Letters to the Editor section, you made the statement, “a simple solution of 1 cup of water to 4 cups of sugar.” Then, in your Point of View column in the back of the magazine, you stated, “A simple mixture of one part sugar and four parts water…” Obviously, the latter is correct because the first would render a thick syrup.
Regardless, I found it fascinating that the hummingbirds use spider silk to weave through their nests to keep the pieces together.
Best regards,
Teresa Sadler
P.S. My mother, sister and myself always have fun seeing who can spot the Tennessee flag icon first!
In the Letters to the Editor, you have an article about hummingbirds and a recipe for feeding them without any red coloring. I agree with this, but the 1 cup water to 4 cups sugar is WRONG. It is 4 cups of water to 1 cup of sugar. How can you put sugar in the feeders with just 1 cup of water?
I have been feeding the hummingbird for almost 60 years — in northwest Indiana and now here in southwest Tennessee for 25 years. I have at least five or six feeders and lots of hummingbirds. I go through about 250 pounds of sugar a season — sometimes more than that.
I suggest that you put 4 cups of sugar in 1 cup of water and see that it will not pour out very well.
A loving friend and feeder of hummingbirds,
Mrs. Ronald Yacko
Adamsville, Pickwick EC
Editor’s note: I’ve been feeding hummingbirds for decades and somehow typed the recipe backward on page 31 of the June edition. My apologies. Thank you to the numerous readers for your emails, letters and phone calls to alert us to the error. Please refer to the following National Audubon Society recipe.
Hummingbird nectar
- 1 cup refined white sugar
- 4 cups water
Mix the sugar and boiling water until the sugar is completely dissolved. Allow to cool, and fill your feeders.
Note: You may want to scale the recipe up or down depending on how many feeders you have, but always use one part sugar to four parts water. There’s no need for red dye here. Red coloring is not necessary, and the chemicals could prove to be harmful to the birds.
Tennessee Hero
I just finished reading the June 2018 issue of The Tennessee Magazine and noted that there was an article about Tennesseans not buried here. The article was great, but I think another famous person should have been included. His name is Charles Rollins Ware. He had a destroyer, the USS Charles R. Ware, DD-865, named after him. The city of Athens, Tennessee, has a museum with a whole floor dedicated to his Navy career.
There is a reunion each year of sailors who served on the Ware, and every third year, it’s held in Athens. This reunion of sailors is the largest of any ship reunion in the U.S.
I think more Tennesseans need to know about Lt. Ware and his service to this country.
Michael Logan
Middle Tennessee EMC
Events Listings
I always read through all your events, but I never find any anywhere close to where I am. I mainly search for events in Grundy, Marion and Sequatchie counties because they are close enough that I can get to them. We have car shows all the time in these areas, but I never learn about them until they’re already over.
Regina Ruehling
Sequachee Valley EC
Editor’s note: We rely 100 percent on event organizers, chambers of commerce and magazine readers to pass along the dates, locations and contact information for events in their areas. If we miss something, we didn’t hear about it! We’re not able to research all the events across Tennessee, so please encourage anyone who knows about these events in your area to fill out the submission form at our website, tnmagazine.org. Space limits how many listings we can print, but you can find our complete Almanac of Events on our website, too.
