Attracting and Feeding
ATTRACTING and FEEDING Hummingbirds
The recipe for hummingbird nectar is on your hand (1:4 for the thumb and fingers). Just boil 1 cup of white table sugar (sucrose) with 4 cups of water for 2 minutes, and then fill your feeder when it has cooled.
It is important to change the nectar regularly. The timing for cleaning your feeder and refreshing nectar changes depending on the time of year.
Hummer Nectar Refresh Schedule & Tips 2024
Feeding in General
Hummingbirds are nectarivores. This means they drink large volumes of nectar (2-4 x their body weight a day), which contains sugar and is therefore, a good source of energy. They also consume invertebrates such as soft-bodied insects and spiders, for protein, fat and salts. If you see a hummingbird darting about in mid-air, they are usually catching the "meat" part of dinner.Â
On average they visit between 1000 and 2000 flowers every day. However, flowers only provide a simple fluid containing mainly water and sugars. Nectar is produced by flowers as a bribe to their pollinators. Flowers that coevolved with hummingbirds usually produce nectar that is relatively weak in sugar, containing 15-25% sucrose (white table sugar). In contrast, plants that evolved with insect pollinators will have higher sugar concentrations and their sugars will be primarily glucose and fructose.Â
Another source of sugar, minerals, and the building blocks of proteins (amino acids), is tree sap. At times when flowers aren't producing a lot of nectar (early morning and early evening), you can often observe hummingbirds feeding at sap-sucker wells. This resource is so important that it is possible that the northern extent of many hummingbird ranges is determined by the range of sap-suckers. In winter, you will see sap feeding at evergreen trees such as cedar, but come spring, you can see the birds visiting deciduous trees too, i.e., as soon as sap is flowing.
Females also need lots of calcium for eggs and growing nestlings. One place you may see them collecting calcium is the ash at burn piles, since once a tree burns, much of what is left is the calcium carbonate needed for building young hummingbirds.
To learn about our research on the hummingbird diet, please visit our diet research page.
Would I drink that?
It is important to keep your feeder and the nectar clean. Every time a bird dips its tongue into a feeder, it is inoculating the nectar with microbes. These microbes feast on the sugars and soon, there is no sugar left, just an acidic, microbial cloud.
Look at the feeder and ask yourself, 'Would I drink that?'. If the answer is no, it is time to get busy. The best practice is to clean the feeder every time you refresh the nectar. This should occur every few days in summer, and at least once a week in winter.
It saves time to prepare a clean stock of nectar and keep it in the fridge. Only fill the feeder with the amount that will be used in a short period. Then you can clean and refill regularly from your fridge stock.Â
For cleaning, we recommend washing your feeder using normal dish soap and a brush if necessary. Dishwashers will leave a residue and strong disinfectants like bleach are best avoided. It is also important to choose a feeder that you can keep clean easily. This implies a simple design. Often the "arty" feeders are very beautiful to look at, but very difficult to keep clean.
So.... please keep your feeders clean and remember to wash the feeding ports as well.Â
Since the frequency for changing the nectar varies with temperature, RPBO volunteer and local artist Kate Romain, has created a useful calendar with an instruction sheet that you can print.Â
Click to download the Nectar Refresh Schedule
Most ornithologists agree that the nectar in your feeders should be as close as possible to that provided by nature. Flowers that coevolved with hummingbirds usually produce nectar that is relatively weak in sugar, containing 15-25% sucrose (white table sugar). This is why we recommend not more than 1 part sugar to 4 parts water. Â
It is thought that higher sugar concentrations, although enticing to the bird (think ice cream sundaes at every meal), could cause kidney damage and being sticky, we know they make it difficult for the bird to preen and that they need to find a source of fresh water to dilute concentrated syrups.Â
In rehabilitation, juvenile hummingbirds will dehydrate at concentrations greater than 1:6. However, birds in the wild have other sources of dietary water and so further dilution of our 1:4 recipe is not necessary. Some scientists also think that the large water volumes obtained from nectar, may be necessary to assist with cooling. Imagine how much water you would go through flying out in the heat of a mid-summer day!
Preservatives, Dyes and Scents
Most commercial hummingbird food products are a waste of money. Unlike many birds, hummingbirds can taste sugar, so they will return to a good clean supply of sweetness. Their main indicator of where food might be is the presence of bright colour. Many hummingbird flowers are red, which explains why feeders that mimic this natural advertisement are so successful. However, plants do not colour or scent their nectar and it is probably best that we do not either.Â
It is possible that artificial colouring may harm the birds, especially in the amounts consumed from feeders. Certainly, the red dye can be seen in their urine when they have used a dyed food source. Also of concern are the preservatives used to keep artificial nectar from spoiling. These could disrupt the natural microbial community in the gut, which is vital for things like putting on fat for migration and immunity. As we learn more about hormone disruptors like scents, it becomes increasingly evident that the precautionary principle should be applied to feeding these birds. Simple is better. The red plastic on the feeder should be a sufficient indicator that food is available.Â
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Feeding Misinformation
The internet is a wonderful source of information, but sometimes well-meaning people can spread information that is not quite correct about feeding hummingbirds.
Please read below if you wish to know more about problems caused by common myths.
- Unsafe alternative sugar sourcesÂ
- Protein in nectar – myths and truths
- Feeders don't delay migration
The sugar provided by plants that evolved with hummingbirds is primarily sucrose (white sugar). NEVER use honey, brown sugar, icing sugar, juice or artificial sweetener!Â
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- Honey contains sugars that are less palatable to hummingbirds. It also ferments rapidly when diluted in water, which causes a rapid build up of bacteria in your nectar.Â
- Brown sugar contains molasses, but more importantly, it has 5 times more iron than white sugar. Since iron is relatively rare in a hummingbird diet, its body hoards the metal, and it will be poisoned.
- Icing sugar contains anti-caking agents such as corn starch, which can promote fermentation.
- Juice ferments rapidly.
Artificial sweetener does not provide the calories that a hummingbird needs to live.
There is an article circulating on the web that promotes adding protein to hummingbird nectar. This article is based on many false assumptions and the supplement suggested could actually be dangerous to the birds.
Sugar water is an excellent resource to supply. In winter, you are providing clean carbohydrates at a time when this resource is less abundant. Birds do need protein, but there is plenty of protein around even in the winter and we should be not be supplementing it.
Locally, we have seen a rapid expansion of the Anna's population. They not only overwinter here, but breed during these cold months. A population does not expand rapidly if there is any nutrient limitation, so rest assured, our hummingbirds are not lacking protein in their diets.
The birds can find lots of invertebrates (insects and spiders primarily) in the trees and in plantings around houses. So.... while it is very helpful to provide them with the sugar they need, we should be extremely cautious about introducing any protein into their liquid diet, as they will be scavenging invertebrates as well. This is not the case for captive birds such as those in rehab or in zoos. However, those birds are not being fed a diet designed for different life stages including rearing young.
Specifically, birds need to regulate the amount of protein they take in, especially when breeding, which is what the local Anna's are doing in the winter and early spring. Their requirements change substantially depending on where they are in the process of raising chicks. Too much protein can actually harm chick development.Â
Another urban myth being circulated is that hummingbirds eat ants. This is categorically untrue and is harmful to the bird. We have been researching their diet for a number of years and they don't eat ants. Hummingbirds eat soft bodied invertebrates such as small flying insects. If you would like to know more about what hummingbirds actually eat and feed their chicks, please read our research.
Our advice is to enjoy your birds and keep feeding them simple sugar water (1 part white sugar to 4 parts water). Let them find their own protein.
There is an unfortunate urban myth that if people supply food for hummingbirds, they will not migrate south and risk death from freezing. This is not true.
You don't need to worry about feeders preventing a bird from migrating. The instinct to be on the move would override any (perceived) temporary supply of plenty. Our neotropical migratory birds have evolved with breeding grounds that always go into winter, which means food scarcity. So even if there is an abundance of food at the end of their breeding period, whether natural or artificial, only the birds that migrate are successful at surviving the winter months (where food supply is abundant on the wintering grounds); those are the birds that are able to breed again in the next season. This has caused a strong evolutionary pressure against birds that might stay.Â
So when do we expect migration? Rufous, Calliope, Black-chinned and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (neotropical migrants) typically migrate in mid- to-late summer. Some juveniles will continue to flow south right into late September. For Rufous, likely, they have come from much further north – areas such as Alaska. On occasion, you hear about a straggler (usually juvenile, unlikely an adult), but these are probably the result of very late nesting attempts and not a compulsion to stay with feeders.Â
Anna's Hummingbirds represent a rather different situation and feeders are thought to have played a part. Many of us on the coast have resident Anna's all winter, although there are increasing numbers overwintering in the interior. They have a late-summer migration away from their breeding grounds and some go north or into the interior. They may be seen in these non-winter areas in numbers well into September. Because Anna's are undergoing a rapid range expansion, they are often seen late season in new locations. They are very adaptable and the expanding edge of their range leads them into increasingly challenging over-wintering conditions. Their success or failure in these new habitats defines their range.
Feeding in Winter
When the cold weather rolls around it is time to think about winter feeding and keeping those precious hummingbird feeders unfrozen.Â
Even in colder weather, we still recommend that you keep the nectar concentration at 1 cup white sugar to 4 cups water, if possible. This means that there is a risk of freezing and it is important to avoid the feeder freezing, as sugar is not present in ice. If nectar freezes, the remaining syrup has a huge sugar concentration. In the wild, birds can tolerate some slightly higher concentrations of sugar, as long as they have a dietary source of water. Unfortunately, in freezing conditions, free water for nectar dilution may not be readily available. So, in freezing weather, it is even more important to make sure the sugar concentration doesn’t get too high.
There are great suggestions out there for keeping feeders ice-free, from putting them in sheltered conditions to bringing them in at night. Often, it is easiest to use feeder warming.  Tara Longfellow's article describes how to support hummingbirds in winter and most importantly, how to build a simple and cheap warming system. Or follow Sara Hiebert's step-by-step photo guide to building your own Feeder warmer.Â
Attracting Hummingbirds
Hummingbirds often visit our gardens for food and water, and they sometimes choose to display and breed there too. The hummingbirds that visit our gardens are generalists with respect to food. This means that they use many different resources rather than being part of a specialized partnership, which can be seen with some tropical hummingbirds. Â
Flower nectar is an important source of sugar and hummingbirds will try out most flowers. Long-blooming plants can be particularly helpful, such as fuchsias (hardy varieties can go well into the fall). Similarly, good value comes from some early/late bloomers (e.g., rosemary, viburnum), especially if you have winter-resident Anna's hummingbirds. In spring and summer, hummingbirds enjoy many common garden flowers including columbines, fox glove, penstemon, salvia, iris, and honeysuckle. Hummingbird favourites also include exotics that evolved with other nectarivores (e.g., sunbirds), such as red-hot pokers, angel's fishing rods, and crocosmia.
Hummingbirds eat (and feed their chicks) a wide variety of small, soft-bodied insects. Avoiding plants or seeds treated with pesticides will help general insect biodiversity (and hummingbird food supply) greatly. As many of these insects also have aquatic larval stages, maintaining healthy wet areas/ponds is beneficial to garden diversity.
 Maintaining trees in your garden can be very helpful too. Trees provide a place to perch, nest and find food. In addition of the lichen for decorating nests, many small insect prey can be hunted along their branches. Tree sap can also be an important resource for sugar when flowers aren't producing (early morning/evening). Hummingbirds will drink sap coming from holes made through the bark of trees by sapsuckers. Some trees like redcedar will provide running sap all winter, while deciduous trees, like birch or maple, only start to run in the spring.
Did you know that many bedding plants are treated with harmful pesticides that not only affect insects but also birds? We often hear about their effect on bee populations, but they can also affect any animal that depends on insects for food. If we think about our gorgeous local hummingbirds, they not only drink nectar from flowers, but also eat tiny soft-bodied insects for protein, fat and salts. These are necessary for growth, energy and also dictate the quality of the feathers that the birds grow.Â
Our recent studies in agricultural areas have shown these pesticides to be present at high levels in hummingbird urine, presumably coming from contaminated plant nectar or sap, and insects that have become contaminated by feeding on these resources. The most common and problematic group of these pesticides are called neonicotinoids. Jannaca’s article explains how these pesticides work, if you would like to learn more.Â
Since many of the same pesticides are used in bedding plants, you might consider starting your flowers from seed purchased from a bona fide organic seed company, or obtain pesticide-free, organic bedding plants from a nursery. It’s healthier for you, your garden, and the birds, bees and butterflies!