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Free seed packets now available through WRD

Looking for an easier way to attract those fast flying friends to your backyard? The Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division now offers hummingbird garden seed packets to enhance your landscape while providing a sought-after food source for Georgia's hummingbirds.

"To provide rich food sources for our winged jewels and help beautify the neighborhood, hummingbird enthusiasts can plant these hummingbird garden seed packets in their yard," advised Terry Johnson, WRD nongame wildlife program manager.

The seed packet contains a mixture of Scarlet Sage Salvia (Salvia coccinea - 20-24" tall) and Four-o'clock (Mirabilis jalapa - 20-30" tall). These low maintenance perennials can easily be sowed by broadcasting over prepared, average soil in full sun, germinating from seed and providing nectar for hummingbirds for years to come.

"Scarlet Sage Salvia and Four-o'clocks are excellent nectar producing plants and have been identified as being heavily used by ruby-throated hummingbirds, the most common hummingbird seen in Georgia," explained Johnson.

This diminutive bird must seek out about half its weight in food every day. Typical body weight of a ruby-throated hummingbird is 3 to 3.4 grams. To maintain their high metabolism, hummingbirds must feed on rich, but easily digestible nectar from flowers or hummingbird feeders containing a mixture of sugar and water.

"Homeowners who seem to enjoy the greatest success in attracting hummingbirds to their yards combine the use of feeders with planting flowers that produce an abundance of nectar," said Johnson.

To receive a FREE hummingbird garden seed packet and Hummingbirds of Georgia information sheet, please send a First Class, $0.37 stamped, self-addressed #10 letter sized envelope to: Hummingbird Garden Seed Packet, DNR/WRD, Nongame-Endangered Wildlife Program, 116 Rum Creek Drive, Forsyth, GA 31029. Only one packet per customer.

For more information on hummingbirds in Georgia, visit www.georgiawildlife.com (click on "Nongame Animals & Plants"). The hummingbird garden seed packets were funded by The Environmental Resources Network, Inc. (T.E.R.N.), the friends group of WRD's Nongame Wildlife and Natural Heritage Section. For more information on how to become a member of T.E.R.N., visit www.TERNforwildlife.org .

Georgians can support the conservation of hummingbirds and other nongame wildlife by purchasing a wildlife license plate for their vehicles, or by donating to the "Give Wildlife a Chance" State Income Tax Checkoff. Since Dec. 2003, more than 365,000 of the nongame bald eagle tags have been sold, raising more than $6.9 million for wildlife conservation, recreation and education projects. The primary source of funding for the Nongame Wildlife and Natural Heritage Section, the plate depicts a bald eagle silhouetted before the American flag.