When spring is in full swing, temperatures rise, and flowers start to bloom in many parts of the United States, migrating birds also start to show up in certain areas, and that includes hummingbirds. If you are located somewhere that hummingbirds pass through and have a yard or garden, you may already be putting out hummingbird feeders to attract these tiny winged wonders to your yard. Turns out, there’s something else you can put out that will attract hummingbirds to your yard, and that’s overripe bananas.
Chances are, you already have some bananas at home — after all, they’re the most popular fruit sold in the United States, which is not surprising, given their versatility and the many different ways you can enjoy them, cooked or otherwise. And it usually doesn’t take too long for bananas to go from ripe to overripe, though there are still plenty of uses for bananas at that point, from giving your pancakes and waffles a hint of natural sweetness to making the best milkshakes. Nor are humans the only ones that enjoy overripe bananas. Fruit flies are also a big fan. And hummingbirds are a big fan of fruit flies.
How overripe bananas attract hummingbirds
To be clear, hummingbirds are not attracted to the overripe bananas themselves, as they don’t really eat the fruit, overripe or otherwise. What the overripe bananas do attract though are fruit flies, which hummingbirds love to consume — in fact, insects and spiders make up around 80 percent of a hummingbird’s diet, and hummingbirds can eat up to 2,000 insects a day. To do this, take some overripe bananas (or even just the banana peels) and hang them near a hummingbird feeder. If you don’t have a good place to hang the fruit, you can always just place them on the ground near a hummingbird feeder, which then has the added benefit of fertilizing your garden when they decompose.
The beauty of this is that you can use bananas that are too overripe even for cooking or baking to attract the fruit flies, which then attract the hummingbirds. Or you can just use the banana peels for the best of both worlds: Use bananas to make a fully-loaded Hummingbird Loaf Cake with spiced rum or a Frosted Hummingbird Bread for humans, and put the leftover banana peels outside in your yard to attract fruit flies to feed the real hummingbirds.
