Hummingbird Bird Feeder: What You Need To Know To Feed Hummingbirds Correctly
March 19, 2010 Featured, Hummingbird Bird Feeder
Hummingbirds are just amazing creatures – and watching them at hummingbird bird feeders can give hours of enjoyment.
They are amongst the very smallest of all bird species and one particular type of hummingbird, the Bee Hummingbird, is smallest bird in the world. They also have the distinction of being the only bird able to fly backwards. This ability is necessary because of the way they feed.
To hover, and move backwards, they can flap their wings at upto 90 per second and they can also fly upwards of 30 miles per hour - truely amazing.
A little known fact is that Hummingbirds eat a variety of food. Their main-stay of nectar, while high in energy producing sugar content, does not provide enough of the other nutrients they need for health. They supplement their nectar diet with protein which usually comes in the form of insects. And this little birds eat a lot! They can consume several times their own weight in nectar every day – which they have to so they have the energy to fly.
Because of the high energy expenditure of their flight, hummingbirds fo not spend a lot of time on the wing – perhaps only 10%. The rest of the time is spent just sitting around – nice way to live…
Nature has given this small bird an incredible gift – but they need our help.
Becuse of their high energy requirements, they are always in danger of starving to death. It takes hundreds of flowers to satisfy the nectar needs of just one hummingbird per day, and they use energy so quickly that they can never store enough energy to be safe. In fact, just one day missed feeding and a humming bird would starve. This is predominantly due to their physiology – what has their heart rate upto as much as 1200 beats per minute.
So, you want to be a hummingbird bird feeder – so how should you feed them.
Well, it is very, very simple.
There are many low-cost hummingbird feeders that you can easily place in your garden and the actual feed itself is very cheap – or you can easily make it yourself.
Hummingbird feed is made from regular white sugar which, with 4 parts water and 1 part sugar, is boiled and then left to cool. The boiling process is simply to reduce the likelyhood of bacteria. Nothing other that white sugar should be used as other kinds of sugar may contain substances such as iron that will be deadly to you hummingbirds.
It is very common, in both store purchased feed and home made feed, to include some natural red food dye. This helps to attract the birds to your hummingbird bird feeder. No other additiives or nutrients are should be included or are required.
The feeder should be cleaned and refilled on a regular basis to keep the birds healthy.
Easy to setup, cheap to maintain and providing hours of enjoyment, putting a hummingbird bird feeder in your garden will be a benefit to you and the birds.
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Hummingbirds are fun, entertaining, full of energy and it’s easy to attract hummingbirds.
