Local woman feeds hundreds of hummingbirds in Sweet Lips

SWEET LIPS, Tenn. — Hummingbirds are humming their way to the community of Sweet Lips, but it’s not just because of the name.

“I don’t know. Early in the morning and late in the evening, there will be anywhere from 200-300. That’s a lot of birds,” said Janet Jones, who feeds them regularly.

It all started nine years ago. After Jones’ husband passed away, she started putting bird feeders in her yard.

“I started getting hummingbird feeders, more and more and more,” Jones said. “They kept coming more and more, so now I’ve got them everywhere.”

Now, she buys about 25 pounds of sugar a week, and spends several hours a day taking care of the birds.

“By time you put out two to three gallons of feed twice a day, it takes a while,” Jones said.

While Mrs. Jones has literally hundreds of hummingbirds flocking to her yard every day, you might think the whole neighborhood looks like this. It turns out, it’s just her yard.

“The more feeders you have, the more birds come. That’s all I know. Every time I add more feeders, I get more birds,” Jones said.

But while Mrs. Jones spoke with us and admired the birds, she said this is a welcome relief from everything else going on in the world.

“I don’t know what I would do without them,” Jones said. “Really, I would be sitting in the house doing nothing.”

Jones and her son also told us that during migration, they’ll have even more birds flock to their yard, and more and more come back every year.