We have colorful Christmas lights surrounding our trampoline so the kids can have light at night as they sleep out. The poor hummingbirds see the bright colors of the bulbs and try to feed off them.
So I wanna give them real feeders but I’m assuming whatever people put in them is some form of sugar water and probably not the best for them.
Anyone know things about hummingbirds and feeders?
Chris,
Hummingbirds eat mosquitoes, fruit flies, gnats, and spiders.
But they also seek out flowers which produce a high sugar count nectar.
The reason that Hummingbird feeders use sugar water is that what they take from the flowers is similar in content.
Now if you know of a way to provide the pests they eat in a feeder, you might try patenting your feeder. 🤪
My spouse uses 1/4 cup of sugar to a cup of water - as mentioned above - this is standard hummingbird fare. We see several hummingbirds everyday all summer long until they leave in early October. After a few days the water will cloud - pitch it out and replace it with new, clean solution.
I find hummingbirds very challenging - here at home they are pretty nervous and won't sit and wait for one to compose and focus - and chasing a hummingbird with long glass can be very challenging - and I say this as someone who has been photographing birds, owls, eagles for a couple decades....
This little guy or gal was tired in the rain, and was more willing than most to let me photograph it. One really needs to set up multiple strobes to catch them at their best - our feeder is on the north side of our house, so always in the shade, sometimes more, sometimes a bit less, but always lower than ideal light. But the hummers have been coming there for years so we're not about to try to move the feeeders.
7D ISO 3200 1/4 crop 2012
Sugar water is what I’ve heard as well. I think when I was a kid, that’s what we used. Humming birds are super cool. Their heartbeat is the fastest in the animal kingdom, I believe.
One of my favorite birds. Along with the Cardinal. Both very aggressive with an attitude and defend their territory.
We have 4 hummingbird feeders, sipped dry in no time flat. And feed the Cardinals a healthy diet of black oil sunflower seeds (~25# every 2 weeks!).
Fantastic images above!!!
Thanks! A lot of great shots there.
Chris soldmyrt posted a few more today.
