Sugar dissolved by boiling water had different chemical properties than
sugar that is dissolved in cold water and never boiled.

When you create sugar syrup by boiling water, the hot water inverts the
sugar - some of the sucrose becomes glucose and fructose. The Inverted
sugar tastes up to 20% sweeter than the non-inverted sugar.

http://www.csiro.au/resources/sweeter-sugar-activity.html

While I don't know what this means to hummingbird nutrition, there is a
chemical difference between dissolving the sugar in cold water vs
boiling water.

Other resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_sugar_syrup

"All constituent sugars (sucrose, glucose and fructose) support
fermentation, so invert sugar solutions may be fermented as readily as
sucrose solutions."
"Invert sugar has a lower water activity than that of sucrose, so it
provides more powerful preserving qualities (a longer shelf life) to
products that utilize it."


Connie
Connie dot bickerton at verizonbusiness dot com
Bainbridge Island WA