Subject: [Tweeters] RE: Another Hummingbird Question
Date: Nov 30 12:31:00 2010
From: Hummingbirds, Butterflies, & More - hummingbirder at gmail.com
Barry
During winter, you may be able to get away with changing your feeder every
7-10 days. Probably more critical during this time frame would be whether
or not the nectar gets "dirty" or your feeders get dirty. For example, if
you see a lot of dead ants in your nectar, that probably means your nectar
should be changed.
Hummingbirds will always go where their best food source is. So, if
currently they are dependent upon your nectar, and your neighbor puts up a
feeder and changes his nectar and cleans his feeder every day, the
hummingbirds will likely prefer the Five Star dining experience versus your
Three Star dining experience.
Also, if other food sources become available, like a blooming winter plant,
you may see your hummingbirds less frequently.
Chris
Chris Caviezel
425-458-4115
"Wild Birds, Hummingbirds, Butterflies & More has the largest
number of hummingbird feeders anywhere - Over 150!"
<http://www.hummingbirdsonly.com/> www.hummingbirdsonly.com
<http://www.birdfeedersonly.com/> www.birdfeedersonly.com
Message: 22
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2010 00:18:16 -0800
From: Barry Ulman <ubarry at qwest.net>
Subject: [Tweeters] Another Hummingbird Question
To: Tweeters Bird Web <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Message-ID: <04c9f0a1a49ab97fc1d34f97c8f8ef62 at qwest.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
Hi Tweeters,
I know it's generally recommended that you change the sugar-water in
your hummingbird feeder every 3 to 5 days, at least in the summer. With
(typical) winter temperatures approaching a refrigerator, I was
wondering if it still is necessary to stick to that rule. Any opinions?
To continue the saga of my hummingbird feeders, I took the advice of
many and moved one of my feeders to the other side of the house. I
didn't expect the hummers to discover the new location for a while, for
I thought the new location was rather inconspicuous. Boy, was I wrong!
I didn't have the relocated feeder up for five minutes, and an adult
female Anna's came to the feeder. It turned out that Attilla the (male)
Hummer preferred the feeder I moved around to the new location. So
eventually I switched feeders, so now Attilla comes to his preferred
feeder in its original location just outside the kitchen, while the
others can feed on the relocated feeder outside the hall. Now that the
cold snap is over, the male doesn't seem to guard the kitchen feeder so
jealously, and occasionally one of the others gets to come in and feed
on that one. I think all my hummingbirds (maybe four) managed to
survive last week's severe weather, much to my delight; their
resilience is amazing.
Barry Ulman
Bellingham, WA.