Photo by Kirill Ignatyev
As many of us in Victoria and the south coastal region are well aware, we have a permanent, year-round population of Anna’s Hummingbirds. However, they may also be attempting to overwinter in the interior! If anyone in the BC interior happens to see any Anna’s Hummingbirds during the winter, please report your sightings to: hummingbird@rpbo.org
As hummingbirds are such an iconic, beloved
bird for us here on the south coast, many people put out feeders with sugar water to help them
overwinter. It’s always helpful to
remind ourselves how to properly care for our feeders and how to make the correct nectar for our delightful visitors!
Hummingbirds are extremely territorial and
they will zealously guard their own feeder from intruders. You may have noticed
that your resident hummingbird comes to your feeder throughout the day, but is always there first thing in the morning and just before dark. If you would like to feed more than one hummingbird family, you can put out another feeder but make sure there is no direct
line of sight between them.
The Perfect Sugar Solution
The
best sugar solution can be made easily. Just boil 1 cup white table sugar
(sucrose) with 4 cups water for 2 min, and then fill your feeder when it has
cooled. Higher sugar concentrations, although enticing to the bird (think ice
cream sundaes at every meal), have the potential to cause kidney damage and
being sticky, make it difficult for the bird to preen. Please note that the use of brown sugar,
honey, juice, icing sugar or artificial sweeteners instead of white sugar is very harmful to
hummingbirds.
There
is no need to purchase hummingbird food as just plain sugar solution is what they like and what is best for
the them! Coloured sugar water is
unnecessary as they can easily find your feeder just by its red colour. Also, red food colouring may be harmful to birds. Once they know where a feeder
is, they will just keep coming back!
Winter
Boost: During the winter season if you would like to give your resident birds
an added sugar boost, you may increase the sugar solution to 3 parts to 1
(three cups of water to one cup of white sugar). More than that is not
recommended for the health of hummingbirds and this percentage should not be
used on a regular basis.
The
dos and don’ts of feeding hummingbirds can be found on the RPBO website:
Winter Feeder Care
When the temperatures go below zero the
sugar water may freeze – it’s important to either bring the feeder inside at night or figure out a way ensure that it stays liquid. Here are links with different ideas to prevent
the sugar solution from freezing:
http://birding.about.com/od/birdfeeders/a/How-To-Keep-Hummingbird-Nectar-From-Freezing.htm
http://www.hummingbirdmarket.com/hummingbird_articles/feeding_hummingbirds_in_the_cold.html
It’s a good
idea to place your feeder close to the house in a sheltered spot with an
overhang as that will assist in keeping it somewhat warmer. LED lights do not
generate heat so if you have the older style Christmas lights they will work. It’s
also helpful to have 2 feeders so that you can switch them up when it is really
cold, bringing one inside to warm up. Remember that your resident hummingbird will come to your feeder first
thing every morning, so be sure to have it ready and waiting!
Keep Your Feeder Clean!
This cannot be emphasized enough! At this
time of year your feeder needs cleaning about once a week.
Look for black mold and fungus! Use a toothbrush to clean
your feeder (the nooks and crannies) and use only mild cleaners (no bleach).
There was an incident when hummingbirds were found dying around a
particularly dirty feeder. Necropsies were done on the birds and fungus was
found in the lining of their respiratory system – they could not breathe! So if
you go to the effort of keeping a feeder available for your resident hummers,
then it doesn’t take much more work to keep it clean!
If you would like to read more about the
feeding of hummingbirds and care of feeders, here are some links below. Let’s
keep our feathered friends happy and healthy during these cold days!
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