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03-31-2017, 07:22 AM - 4 Likes   #1
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Giving hummers a needed break from red dye

I always made my own sugar water in similar proportions 1:4 or even 1:5 would work just fine, boil, cool and watch them
go at it like crazy.

Red Nectar Is Making Hummingbirds Too Sick To Fly

04-01-2017, 03:56 PM - 2 Likes   #2
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The nectar in flowers is clear.

The only possible reason to use red artificial nectar in hummingbird feeders is to make the feeder have more red color, a color that does attract hummingbirds. But when a single, SMALL piece of red ribbon, felt, cloth, or plastic is enough to catch their attention, why make the feeder redder than a 1960 Ford tail light? Pink or yellow will attract them, too, and they visit the (blue, purple, and white) lilac blossoms when they first migrate back to my area, so going overboard with red on the feeder is kind of ridiculous, especially when naturalists have been warning people about dangers of red nectar coloring for decades.

As you point out, solar1, it is easy to make your own sugar water for them, and it is certainly cheaper than buying the prepared red nectar or prepared mix for making red nectar. Some of the hummingbird feeders available have more red material in them, a safer solution for the red obsessed. Some other manufactured feeders, that are just as successful, have very little red on them.

If people what to go overboard in feeding hummingbirds, instead of going overboard with too much red, put up more feeders, placing them in different areas, since hummingbirds will try to guard their favorite feeding areas from other hummingbirds. More birds will get a chance to feed when feeders (or flowers they like) are in separate areas. It's also good to clean any mold from the feeders from time to time, which also protects the tiny birds' health.

I started taking a humming bird feeder with us on camping vacations several years ago. It was a tiny (about 4 ounce capacity) clear, tube-shaped feeder, with a single feeding port on one-side that a yellow plastic bee guard fit over. It came with a round piece of red felt, hardly more than a square inch in size, that you slid over the port before pressing the bee guard on. The top of the tube, had a red plastic cap. You unscrewed the cap to fill the feeder, remembering to block the port with a thumb until you have the feeder hung in place. I loved to hang the feeder near where I set up my camp chair. Wherever we went, that little feeder, filled with clear sugar water, brought in whatever kind of hummingbirds lived where we were camping. The didn't mind posing for pictures either. It is pretty easy to capture them while feeding with a shutter speed of 1/500 or 1/1000. I don't think I have digital versions of those pictures, though.
04-01-2017, 04:46 PM - 1 Like   #3
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You need one of these:



Then you don't need to use that nasty stuff. I buy the clear kind or make my own nectar.
04-01-2017, 08:32 PM   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by goatsNdonkey Quote
The nectar in flowers is clear.

The only possible reason to use red artificial nectar in hummingbird feeders is to make the feeder have more red color, a color that does attract hummingbirds. But when a single, SMALL piece of red ribbon, felt, cloth, or plastic is enough to catch their attention, why make the feeder redder than a 1960 Ford tail light? Pink or yellow will attract them, too, and they visit the (blue, purple, and white) lilac blossoms when they first migrate back to my area, so going overboard with red on the feeder is kind of ridiculous, especially when naturalists have been warning people about dangers of red nectar coloring for decades.

As you point out, solar1, it is easy to make your own sugar water for them, and it is certainly cheaper than buying the prepared red nectar or prepared mix for making red nectar. Some of the hummingbird feeders available have more red material in them, a safer solution for the red obsessed. Some other manufactured feeders, that are just as successful, have very little red on them.

If people what to go overboard in feeding hummingbirds, instead of going overboard with too much red, put up more feeders, placing them in different areas, since hummingbirds will try to guard their favorite feeding areas from other hummingbirds. More birds will get a chance to feed when feeders (or flowers they like) are in separate areas. It's also good to clean any mold from the feeders from time to time, which also protects the tiny birds' health.

I started taking a humming bird feeder with us on camping vacations several years ago. It was a tiny (about 4 ounce capacity) clear, tube-shaped feeder, with a single feeding port on one-side that a yellow plastic bee guard fit over. It came with a round piece of red felt, hardly more than a square inch in size, that you slid over the port before pressing the bee guard on. The top of the tube, had a red plastic cap. You unscrewed the cap to fill the feeder, remembering to block the port with a thumb until you have the feeder hung in place. I loved to hang the feeder near where I set up my camp chair. Wherever we went, that little feeder, filled with clear sugar water, brought in whatever kind of hummingbirds lived where we were camping. The didn't mind posing for pictures either. It is pretty easy to capture them while feeding with a shutter speed of 1/500 or 1/1000. I don't think I have digital versions of those pictures, though.
you should always check before hanging a feeder while camping ...they aren't legal everywhere

our dispersed plantings draw more hummers than the two feeders we set
however some years the birds are very possessive
so the feeding happens in shifts

a dangling red bead works as an attractor as well

04-01-2017, 09:26 PM   #5
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That's a good point about checking whether the feeders would be permitted in public parks; important rules about not feeding wild animals in parks and refuges might not have a loophole permitting them.

I believe the last time I hung up a hummingbird feeder while camping, the campground manager's yard had hummingbird feeders, so it may not have occurred to me to ask if it was okay for nearby campsites.

Plantings that include tube-shaped flowers that bloom at different times over the growing season are even better, and more natural, nectar sources.



QuoteOriginally posted by ccc_ Quote
you should always check before hanging a feeder while camping ...they aren't legal everywhere

our dispersed plantings draw more hummers than the two feeders we set
however some years the birds are very possessive
so the feeding happens in shifts

a dangling red bead works as an attractor as well
04-02-2017, 12:42 PM   #6
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QuoteOriginally posted by goatsNdonkey Quote
That's a good point about checking whether the feeders would be permitted
I hung one up in a national park and the ranger took it down and confiscated it almost immediately. I was just stupid in that I didn't think about sugar water attracting bears and other wild critters. Lesson learned.
04-02-2017, 04:47 PM   #7
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QuoteOriginally posted by slowpez Quote
I hung one up in a national park and the ranger took it down and confiscated it almost immediately. I was just stupid in that I didn't think about sugar water attracting bears and other wild critters. Lesson learned.
Where permitted, it is a fun thing to do, but even in one's yard, hummingbird feeders can attract insects -- bees, wasps, ants -- and larger birds, like orioles. There are some feeder accessories for preventing ants from getting to the feeder. And there are, as mentioned "bee guards," but no "bear guards."

04-02-2017, 04:59 PM - 1 Like   #8
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FWIW, I feed them in my backyard. Getting too old to go camping.
04-02-2017, 06:28 PM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by goatsNdonkey Quote
Where permitted, it is a fun thing to do, but even in one's yard, hummingbird feeders can attract insects -- bees, wasps, ants -- and larger birds, like orioles. There are some feeder accessories for preventing ants from getting to the feeder. And there are, as mentioned "bee guards," but no "bear guards."
we've hung small seed feeders a few yards from the camper and seen some interesting birds
you just have check first
04-05-2017, 10:41 AM   #10
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I used 1 gallon of water to 4 to 5 cups of cane sugar.
Seems dilute, but they liked it fine. At the time I lived close to a (most of the time), dry river bed.
I'd have to refill two feeders, 2-3 times a day during summers. It would be getting pretty busy!
Thirsty hummers. :- )
04-05-2017, 02:45 PM - 1 Like   #11
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Solar1, thanks so much for starting this thread! I had no idea the red dye was harmful. I get very few hummers, but love seeing them. I will start making my own batches of sugar water when I hang a feeder or two out!
04-05-2017, 04:37 PM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by goatsNdonkey Quote
hummingbird feeders can attract insects -- bees, wasps, ants
That's good for me because I do macros of bees, wasps and ants. We don't have Orioles here nor bears.
04-05-2017, 05:31 PM   #13
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QuoteOriginally posted by solar1 Quote
I used 1 gallon of water to 4 to 5 cups of cane sugar.
Seems dilute, but they liked it fine. At the time I lived close to a (most of the time), dry river bed.
I'd have to refill two feeders, 2-3 times a day during summers. It would be getting pretty busy!
Thirsty hummers. :- )
4 cups = 1 quart
4 quarts = 1 gallon

So 4 cups of sugar (or 1 quart of sugar) to 1 gallon of water (4 quarts of water) is the same 1-to-4 sugar to water ratio the original poster recommended. Sometimes people will use 1:5 as the ratio, which is slightly weaker. Some people will use a bit more sugar in the mix when they first set out feeders at the start of the season, to make them more tempting. These are all within the natural range of sugar concentration of nectar in flowers, which varies by species, by humidity and ground moisture, by time of day (some flowers produce more nectar at different times). Also, dew or rain getting into blossoms can dilute the nectar.

Hummingbirds also eat small flying insects, an important source of protein when they are developing eggs and feeding babies. They collect spider webs and lichen bits to make their nests which are extremely difficult to see with such excellent camouflage.
04-06-2017, 07:26 PM - 1 Like   #14
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We put up several ones here in our yard in different locations. They start to migrate back to our area for breeding season as soon as the flowers starts. We just use sugar water, and plant a bunch of flowers they like. We usually get several pairs and they are crazy territorial. The best is just before they migrate, the migrants stop at their feeders to fuel up and the residents really go to town on them. Probably one of the most aggressive birds I have seen.

al
04-08-2017, 10:24 PM   #15
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QuoteOriginally posted by csa Quote
Solar1, thanks so much for starting this thread! I had no idea the red dye was harmful. I get very few hummers, but love seeing them. I will start making my own batches of sugar water when I hang a feeder or two out!
Thanks for saying so Carol.

I always knew in my gut, it wasn't good practice for natural little beings to have synthetic dyes. But It was good to see the vets and rescue people saying so, now people will pay more attention.

Recently at Wallymart, I passed a display and couldn't resist reading the small print for some 'natural' red feed.
The ingredients I thought might be some harmless natural vegetable color for example... instead it was red no 40, an synthetic aniine dye. Yuck.

Maybe many other people with feeders will gradually get wind of it and help out too.

Best,

Nic
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