GC.SUL@forsythe.stanford.edu (Sullivan) (01/09/91)
Regarding feeding hummingbirds, it was an excellent article. I have one gripe with it. I do not reccomend using the instant nectar sold commercially. It contains red dye (unnecessary and perhaps harmful) and sometimes other preservatives. Experts reccomend using a solution of one part sugar to 4 parts water. This is the closest approximation to natural flower nectar. Red dye if not necessary! Most feeders have enough red to attract the birds. If you want more confirmation, call the Hummingbird Rescue Team at Palo Alto's Wildlife Rescue. Or call the Penninsula Humane Society and ask for Juanita Heineman. Pat Gonzales is the head of the Wildlife Rescue team. These people can give you the correct proceedure, and are also the ones to call if you find an injured hummer. We got down to 8 degrees up here in Kelseyville and I kept switching frozen with fresh feeders. Still have several hummers around-don't know how they survived. Karen Sullivan
foley@helix.nih.gov (Charles K. Foley) (01/09/91)
I have a question about feeding hummingbirds: I have been told that we should take our feeders in (here in North Carolina) after Labor Day and put them out again on Memorial Day in order to force the birds to migrate to warmer areas with better food availability for the winter. I just got my first hummingbird feeder for Christmas and I'm wondering when I should put it out. Thanks, Charles Foley National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences National Institutes of Health Research Triangle Park, NC foley@iris03.niehs.nih.gov
tfisher@NPIRS.Purdue.EDU (Tom Fisher) (01/10/91)
From article <1991Jan8.192604.7338@morrow.stanford.edu>, by GC.SUL@forsythe.stanford.edu (Sullivan): I do not reccomend using the instant nectar > sold commercially. It contains red dye (unnecessary and perhaps > harmful) and sometimes other preservatives. > I keep seeing mention of "pehaps" or "it may be harmful" - referring to the use of red dye or food coloring in sugar water for hummers. Does anyone know for a "fact" that this is harmful? I've been using trace amts (enough to color the solution "pink") for years and I've yet to find a dead hummer around my place. And we have lots of the little fellows. Tom Fisher --
kelly@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Fishhead) (01/11/91)
Well there is definite evidence to support the contention that hummingbirds' livers may be enlarged and damaged through handling too much sugar. Also evidence that honey water or any syrup is dangerous because it can carry a tongue fungus disease which is fatal to hummingbirds. Red food dye tends to have preservatives in it, and that is not recommended for hummers. Most feeders have red flowers or are colored red completely (like rubbermaids,) and hummers have very sharp eyesight. If you are worried they will not see it, you could put it by their normal flower source, wrap a red ribbon around it or put red flowers on it or something. The hummers may just be ignoring the feeder because they prefer the fresh flowers. As for finding a dead bird on or arond yoru feeder to prove to you that the hummers are dying from 'whatever', well, that isn't very good evidence for anything. Most hummers are constantly moving around and rarely use one feeder for more than half a season (although its been said some do come back year after year to the same area after migration, but again, only end up using the feeder for about half the season if that long at all.) If anyone knows about any studies with coloring and hummer health, type away... Kelly
kelly@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Fishhead) (01/12/91)
Here is some more input from WoodsWorld Hummingbirding Society letter written by Fred Sparling that appeared in their newsletter, Fall/Winter 1988-89: Marty Stouffer's excellent film about hummingbirds rasied the question of taking down feeders to forcefully remind migrant hummers it's time to go south. Taking down feeders that are being used is arbitrary and unfair particularly with hummingbirds because their energy-storing capacity is very limited and it takes planning and preparation for migration; for instance, it's estimated that about two grams of fat is required to fuel the flight across the gulf from Central America to the U.S., so, if we cut off an important food source before they're ready to go we are just not being friendly, we're being bossy. Such a train of thought can very well 'over-expert' to extinction. The answer is really regional. There are lake regions of the U.S. where no hummer in his right mind would want to spend a winter and the migration time clock inherent in migrant hummingbirds takes command. 'In his right mind' is the operative idea which means if you have 'hooked' your friend with 'over sweet' [in this case meaning a solution over 20-25% sugar,] nectar and the sweet life of debauchery stops his migration clock, then you may have an indigent, and you are responsible for feeding until he's unhooked. It wouldn't be fair to take your feeder down under such circumstances. All-year residents are common along the Pacific coast, Southwest, and Gulf Coasts; migrants in those areas, such as Allen's, Rufous, Calliope, Costa, Black-Chin, Broad-Tailed, go South leaving the feeders to the Anna's who peregrinate about extending their territory to include the Western States and Southwestern Canada. A respectful thing to keep in mind with hummingbird migrants is that it has been their idea practiced over eons of time as a _round trip_ and if humans intrude on this practice by telling hummingbirds when to leave then what next? Will we expect them to send a card telling us when they're coming? And if so, how will they address us and who will pay the postage?!