General

not daffodils, puzzlemernt

by  •  • 5 Comments

Has anyone looked into the nutritional consequences to the
hummingbird of eating sugar-water instead of plant nectar? A nagging
worry about that is what keeps me from putting up hummingbird
feeders, but I have read no studies that would supply an answer.
Melissa

5 comments for “not daffodils, puzzlemernt”

  1. Hi Melissa,

    Since both sugar water and plant nectar are fructose sugars, there should be no
    difference between them.  And then, no hummingbird subsists on a diet of only
    what is in the feeders.  I see them all the time sipping from every plant they
    see, along with my feeder.  When there is a dearth of flowers or when there is a
    drought and little liquid in the flowers, I would think that you would want to
    give them something.  Then again, our granulated sugar is made from either beets
    or sugar cane, both plant based.

    Donna

  2. Melissa –

    This article from WildBird magazine might be of interest:
    http://www.hummingbirds.net/hainsworth.html

    To some the article may seem a bit long to read but somewhere it does say that plant nectar is mainly water and sugar.

    The feeders are heavily used here but they also investigate and sip anything blooming in the garden.
    In addition, I’ve made the observation that hummingbirds enjoy the small ants that sometimes congregate at the feeder.
    I view it as their protein source.

    Linda

  3. Linda,
    You mentioned the program on PBS about hummingbirds.  I also saw it and it
    showed the hummers chomping down on bugs in the air.  That was interesting. 
    They shy away from the wasps that also feed at the feeders.
    Donna

  4. A couple of differences though which could be critical. The white sugar
    that is commonly used contains residue of the refining process (as per a C&H
    VP with whom I spoke) and even with care, a feeder may not be as clean a
    source of food as a flower. Also, there may be other nutrients in the
    nectar that are critical to humming bird health. I have read warnings to
    not use sugar water, but it was long enough ago that I no longer remember
    the source.

    Colleen in NE Calif.

  5. I decided to go to the ultimate authority – The Audubon Society.  I just talked
    to the head of the society here in Columbus who is also the manager of Wild
    Birds Unlimited, a franchise store and who has been interested in birds for more
    than 20 years, and has spent 12 years at the store researching the questions
    that people ask her.   She told me that Cornell University Labs has done a study
    on the nutritional differences between sugar water and natural flower nectar. 
    They found that using one cup of regular granulated sugar to four cups of water
    duplicates nearly exactly the nectar.  They said there is nothing more in the
    flower nectar that is not in the sugar water.  All the birds need is sugar for
    energy and a few bugs for protein.  They did caution about using dye or food
    color in the water or buying the prepackaged nectar mix because they have dye in
    it and preservatives.  They could not find short term effects from the birds
    drinking the dye or preservatives, but have not studied it long enough to see
    long term effects, if any.
    So fill your feeder for the few migrating birds that are still coming through
    and give them directions to Larry Force’s home.
    Donna

Comments are closed.