Feeding Hummingbirds

Feeding Hummingbirds
Feeding hummingbirds does more than provide us with visual entertainment: it helps sustain their existence. The hovering mode of the hummingbird may be fascinating to watch, but to the hummingbird it is fairly inefficient, much as the helicopter is an inefficient aircraft. As such, the hummingbird must feed typically 3-5 times per hour. Feeders filled with mixtures of 1 part sugar to 4 parts water (a 1:5 mixture is a little more diluted but may help keep pesky insects like bees away from your feeder) provide valuable supplementary calories to the hummingbirds' natural diet of flower nectar, and insects and small spiders. The best color for a feeder is red, with the second best being yellow (unfortunately yellow feeders sometimes tend to attract some insects). Finally, a word of caution: never fill your feeders with anything but sugar-water mixtures. Do not use coloring of any kind, and never use honey, for it breeds a fungus that can coat the hummingbird's tongue and eventually may cause death. Keep your feeders clean and filled--then sit back and enjoy the wonderful view.