From one backyard swing to Pop's Birding

Pops loved watching the hummingbirds in his backyard. One day he noticed them flying back and forth between his feeder and the trees, where they rested. He wondered: what if they had a perch right by the feeder? Would they stick around? So he made one by hand from a hardware-store dowel wrapped in wire, and hung it close to the feeder. Sure enough, his hummingbirds started resting on it after feeding. Soon friends and family were asking for homemade swings of their own, and the idea took flight.

The family takes on Pops' idea, with Bethany Sloan spearheading the mission to bring it to life in his honor. Working with a local ironworks in Yucaipa, California, it takes about two years and seven prototypes to get it right.

The company is formally founded as Pop's Hummingbird Swings, with Bethany as owner and general manager. The first Original Hummingbird Swings™ come in our gold package, with Pops' face on the front. It's the first hummingbird swing ever brought to market. Package in hand, we drive from one garden center and nursery to the next across the Inland Empire and beyond, asking, “Have you heard of a hummingbird swing?”

Our original website, popshbs.com, goes live in our gold branding, with Pops' face front and center.

Pop's starts introducing the hummingbird swing to retailers at trade shows. The banner said it all: "Exciting new product!" and "Do hummingbirds really swing on it?" Even with swings in hand, buyers have a hard time picturing a hummingbird on one, so we spend that first year explaining it, one booth at a time. We also join the local Chamber of Commerce and are featured in the local paper.

On March 20, 2012, about a year after we filed, our original logo with Pops' face becomes our first registered U.S. trademark (Reg. No. 4,114,144). Hummingbird swings were so new that the trademark office didn't yet have a listing for them, so our registration had to describe a brand-new kind of product. Pops' face is still part of our logo today.

After two years of explaining, the buzz pays off. Word of the hummingbird swing spreads nationwide, our distribution picks up, and the Original Hummingbird Swing™ starts reaching independent garden centers, nurseries and gift shops far beyond our original network.

Pop's gets a fresh new look: a new green package, our second packaging design, with new store displays and branding to match as we reach more stores.

To grow awareness of Pop's, we take the hummingbird swing to trade shows all across the US, with a bigger booth to match our new green packaging.

We add hummingbird nectar to the Pop's line with Nectarade®, so your swing and fresh nectar can come from the same family.

We move our company operations out of California and into Idaho. Now we have room to receive and store inventory, assemble our products ourselves, and start the move to packing and shipping every order ourselves. That space is what makes our switch to USA manufacturing possible.

In November 2021 we begin a full repositioning of our brand. In early 2022 we survey our customers and listen closely, then refresh our messaging, launch our "Invite Wonder" campaign and start going by a new name, Pop's Birding. Three things change on the Original Hummingbird Swing™: the swing itself, with our Polyperch® and a new frame shape; the package; and the display you see in stores. Pops' face is still on our logo.

With our new space in Idaho, we move virtually all of our manufacturing to the USA and redesign the whole swing line around our new Polyperch®, a textured perch shaped like a real branch that replaces the smooth hand-stained dowel. It comes in today's American flag package, with its own trade dress.

Being first meant being copied. As counterfeit swings spread, many copying the hand-stained dowel from our original design, we began protecting Pop's with patents, trademarks and copyrights across our whole line, including our patented Polyperch®. See our patents and trademarks.

To be sure you're getting a genuine Pop's product, buy from popsbirding.com or an authorized Pop's retailer. Read our Authorized Internet Retailer Policy.

Our new Pop's Birding look comes with a new trade show booth, a traveling version of our showroom that takes the whole Pop's line to shows across the country, until we open our year-round showroom in Atlanta in 2026.

We expand our nectar line with Nectarlyte® powder nectar, so you can mix fresh nectar at home in just the amount you need.

Perfect Little Sanctuary® hummingbird and butterfly wildflower seed joins the line, so you can grow the flowers hummingbirds love right alongside your feeder and swing.

We expand into gifts and accessories, from hummingbird ornaments and charms to hooks, so there's a Pop's gift for every hummingbird lover.

Pop's is featured on Good Morning America for the first time, introducing the hummingbird swing to viewers across the country. Watch Pop's on ABC News.

We've been back many times since, including representing Idaho in Tory Johnson's “50 States of Deals.”

In February 2025 we open a small shop in Idaho Falls, a second place in town to fill orders. By June we move into a bigger space at 1550 Jones St., and now we ship every order ourselves. It's where we handle local pickups and freight orders for our store partners, and where we open our retail showroom, so you can see the whole Pop's line and shop in person.

We first put our AspenPerch® hummingbird feeder to use in November 2024, and in December 2025 it fully launches, with our patented Polyperch® built right in, so hummingbirds have a comfortable place to sit while they feed. Our HummGuard® nectar tips launch alongside it, to help keep bees and wasps out of the nectar.

We open our wholesale showroom at AmericasMart in Atlanta, Georgia (Building 2, Showroom 9110), so retailers can see and shop the full Pop's line in person.

For years we've dreamed of a place to share everything we've learned about hummingbirds, but we didn't have the hands to build it. In July 2026 we finally launch the Hummingbird Learning Center, free articles and guides to help you understand and enjoy hummingbirds. It's our way of giving back.

We're always adding more. If there's something you'd like to learn that isn't there yet, let us know.