Rolan and Tweeters:

Nutrition of flower nectar.
Sugar is the energy producing substance in biological reactions.
The liver converts ingested substances to useable molecules;
carbohydrates are converted to sugar which has a caloric value of 4 Calories
per gram.
The ?standard? solution for humming bird feeders is 4/1, i.e., four
parts water and one part sugar (20%).
Flower nectar is 25% sugar, stronger than feeder nectar.
So, the nutritional value (energy) of the two nectars is very
similar.
Interestingly, the rate of energy expenditure for the humming bird
is fifty times that of man.
I was surprised to find that Google has an extensive list of
publications for ?flower nectar caloric value? (nectar biology).

(Check: http//web.cortland.edu/broyles/nectar%20biology.html)

Bill Kaufman
Woodinville


On 4/8/09 6:46 PM, "Rolan Nelson" <rnbuffle at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Greetings Tweets,
>
> My wife raised a question tonight that I couldn't answer, so we thought to
> turn to y'all for some help.
>
> Is there any nutritional difference between the sugar water hummingbirds get
> from feeders and the nectar they collect from flowers?
>
> Some botanists, ornithologists, etc out there?
>
> Peace, Rolan
>
> Rolan Nelson
> Fircrest, WA
> rnbuffle at yahoo.com
>
>
>
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