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Julio Cesar Bu and his family have built a private reserve for hummingbirds in Yamaranguila, Intibuca which is close to La Esperanza, Honduras. Julio started attracting hummingbirds to his property by hanging feeders and providing plenty of good clean food for them. He started hanging more feeders and has now created a hummingbird habitat that is visited by many different species.
Protecting the habitat for the birds is foremost on Julio’s mind and teaching the children to appreciate the beauty they have in Honduras is critical. Lots of children have visited his reserve and asked how to hang their own feeders. Julio knows that teaching the children how to appreciate the beauty that exists in their country will help them strive to preserve it.
We spent the whole day here with Julio and his family filming the hummingbirds. Today there were lots of White-eared, Azure-crowneds, Mexican Violetears and Rivoli’s Hummingbirds. I’ve heard that since our visit he has also seen Beryllines, Rufous-tailed and even a Sparkling-tailed Woodstar.
Photographing here is very easy, as the birds are constantly at the feeders. He has also planted nectar-rich flowers and provided many perches so the birds can pose for the cameras!
Even though there are commercial hummingbird feeders at the reserve, the birds definitely preferred Julio’s homemade feeders. Julio makes feeders out of plastic chili bottles. He turns them upside down and uses glue to add a hook. He drilled two holes near the cap and glued in coffee stirrers to act as feeder ports. The birds would fight over these feeders even though there were free ports on other feeders nearby.
