Barbara:

The heating, boiling, of the water is just meant to dissolve the sugar. If the tap water is clean enough for humans, it will be fine for your hummingbirds. Keep in mind that the first hummer that sticks its tongue in your feeder will contaminate it. That's why you want to change it frequently - more frequently when it is hot.

chuck reinsch, magnolia, seattle, wa
----- Original Message -----
From: Barbara Miller
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Monday, August 24, 2009 4:48 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] Water for hummingbird nectar


I've always boiled the water before adding sugar for hummingbird "nectar" (i.e. the sugar-water I put in the hummingbird feeder). This is because the instructions I read said to do it. But I'm wondering whether it's enough just to use the water from an insta-hot (one of those in-sink water heaters that deliver water at about 180 degrees). Is the boiling intended to kill some sort of microorganisms or somehow change the chemical structure of the nectar, or is it just for the purpose of speeding up the dissolution of the sugar? Does anyone know?



Barbara Miller

Bellevue, Washington

Bmill07 AT Comcast DOT net



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