WHAT’S IN YOUR YARD

The prickly pear fruit, which is also called cactus pear and tuna fruit, is edible, nutritious and delicious. It produces vitamins and minerals. It even has medicinal properties.
Hummingbirds are the only birds that are able to fly backwards and can hover in place. Plants that attract hummingbirds to your yard include trumpet creeper, bee balm, red columbine, cardinal flower and jewelweed. Hummingbirds like hummingbird feeders as well. (So do some of the smaller birds in the area.)Hummingbirds drink nectar….. a sweet liquid inside certain flowers. Like bees, they are able to assess the amount of sugar in the nectar they eat; they reject flower types that produce nectar that is less than 10% sugar and prefer those whose sugar content is stronger. Nectar is not a good source of nutrients, so hummingbirds meet their needs for protein, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, etc. by feasting on insects and spiders.[3]


