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This page last updated: October 19, 2005 Trochilids FAQ Questions that I have been frequently asked: Trochilids Webpage Basics What does
"Trochilids" mean? Hummingbird Banding What is the value of banding hummingbirds? Do you have a hummingbird band that I can add to my bird band collection? Feeding Hummingbirds
How do I keep my feeder from freezing? What should I
feed my hummingbirds? Miscellaneous Questions Do hummingbirds migrate on the backs of geese? What is the small, striped hummingbird flying around my flowers at dusk? What does "Trochilids" mean? Taxonomically speaking, hummingbirds are in the family named Trochilidae. Hence the name of our website. Besides, "hummingbirds.com/net" was already taken!
How did you get started mapping wintering hummingbirds? I was fortunate enough to live in coastal Mississippi for four years (1998-2001) while my wife, a pediatrician in the USAF, was stationed at Keesler AFB. During that time I worked on a research project called "Migration Over the Gulf Project," studying bird migration from oil and gas production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico for Louisiana State University. At LSU I met Dr. J. Van Remsen and many other Louisiana birders, many of them astute "hummingbirders." Soon I was closely following the winter hummingbird reports of my adopted home state, Louisiana, and to a lesser extent my then current home state of Mississippi, the latter primarily because communication among birders was not as well-developed in Mississippi as it was in Louisiana. When Tom Sylvest of Gramercy, Louisiana, began keeping a written tally of the hummingbirds reported in winter in Louisiana and tallied literally hundreds of wintering hummingbirds, I decided to map the locales and relative abundances that he reported to get a visual representation of what he provided in written form. Since there's very little to gain from plotting data privately, I began sharing the results online in a rudimentary "Trochilds Web Site." As the study and publicity of winter hummingbirds spread across the eastern USA, and new hummingbird banders across the East began to promote their winter hummingbird research projects, reports of wintering hummingbirds began to come from all over. It was a short step from mapping just Louisiana reports to those of the entire USA. Each year the Trochilids Website has grown, and as reports and publicity continue to increase, the site will continue to grow. I remain in debt to the participation and reports of folks like you, without which these maps and tallies would be pretty meager. So thank you for your interest!
When should I take down my feeder? Short answer: Only when you want to! Long answer: Hummingbirds migrate based on internal hormonal cues influenced by changes in day length, NOT food availability. So leaving your feeder out will not cause a hummingbird to not migrate. Otherwise, why would all those hummingbirds you see at your feeder in the fall depart, anyway? And what about natural food sources? Hummingbirds often migrate when food is at it's peak availability in order to fuel their trip. We don't go out and cut all the hummingbird flowers so that the birds will move on, do we? Besides, hummingbirds eat an incredible number of small insects, so their actual "reliance" on your feeder is certainly not as great as many people think. Your feeder may provide a boost to birds that are tardy in migrating for other reasons. Mother Nature is always pushing the envelope during the breeding season, and some birds just hatch later than others. These tardy birds may be culled out of the population if conditions are not favorable. It's a harsh world...
Actually, unless you found the body, there's a good chance that your hummingbird did not die. We are discovering that these birds can, and do, survive dire temperatures for surprising periods of time using coping mechanisms such as torpor. Many banded birds that have departed before or during storms -- and were assumed dead -- actually turned up in other yards farther south. And some of these birds have even returned to the same yard several days after the passage of the storm. It appears that sometimes these winter birds just want to wander a bit for whatever reason. Rufous Hummingbirds are perhaps the most hardy of all hummingbird species in the United States and Canada. These guys routinely nest in western mountains during very cold temps and do just fine. Their breeding range extends up into Alaska, nearly to Anchorage! That is not to say that harsh weather will not kill a hummingbird. It will, just as it can kill other small birds like kinglets and chickadees. In fact, NO bird, regardless of size, is immune to certain weather conditions. We've said it before and we'll say it again -- Mother Nature is harsh. Yet animals are always pushing the envelope of survival. It's good for the species, actually, as it allows them to be better prepared to adapt to changes in the environment if these "scouts" find suitable conditions. Humans are perhaps one of the only animals that feel sorrow and responsibility for death of wild animals. While this is clearly good in some regards, we also need to remember that our emotions do not necessarily reflect on the attitudes of Mother Nature as a whole! Nature cares not one whit who lives or dies, despite how we feel. The demise of a hummingbird may remain an emotional event for us humans, but so long as we do not cause their death, our involvement should be weighed accordingly. Finally, it is important for us to remember that these Rufous Hummingbirds and other "western" species would most likely be present in the eastern USA even without our "help" (feeders). There is some evidence that they've been out there in the East for many years! We just haven't seen them in the numbers we do now, partly because folks didn't think they could survive (and where therefore not looking for them), and partly because of their small size (tough to see without feeders bringing them close to your window). So remember two things. 1) hummingbirds encountered in eastern states in winter are already in the neighborhood and have likely been visiting eastern locales as a species for years -- they are just brought into view by your feeders. 2) If they are going to die due to inclement weather, they will do so despite our feeders, not because of them. And with that, we hope you appreciate the opportunity to observe and help us learn more about these fascinating creatures!
How do you catch and band hummingbirs? It's not as difficult as it sounds -- but remember that handling any wild, native bird requires special permits since they're all protected by law. Even hunting pheasants requires permits (a hunting license). Handling hummingbirds (and other native birds) similarly requires special permits... For details on how I catch and band hummingbirds, see this page.
What is the value of hummingbird banding? Researchers licensed by the federal government and in most cases the pertinent state authorities study hummingbirds simply because we need to know more about them. Sounds too simple, doesn't it? Naturalists and biologists (the two are often interchangeable) believe that in order to be good stewards of our planet, we must understand the relationships animals have with ourselves and each other. Relatively little is known about hummingbirds, and studying them and their relationship with their environment allows us to see into that window. It's certainly not curing cancer, but natural science projects (like the study of hummingbirds) still provide us with important answers that make our lives, and hopefully the lives of the animals with which we share this planet, a little more tolerable. And it's fascinating stuff, too! Banding hummingbirds -- applying an extremely light-weight, very tiny, paper thin, uniquely numbered aluminum band around one leg -- helps specially trained and licensed researchers identify individual birds over time and space. In most cases, this is the ONLY way to determine the movements of individuals. Is the hummingbird you see this winter the same one you saw last winter? Are they surviving this "odd" wintering strategy? Is the bird encountered in southern Alabama really the same one that was banded in Pennsylvania a few weeks earlier and was thought to have died in a storm? Where do the hummingbirds that are banded in the Eastern USA actually breed? Do they comprise a separate subpopulation? Do these Eastern wintering hummingbirds spend time on breeding territories in the West? Or do they just float? The only way to address those and a host of other questions is to somehow uniquely mark individual hummingbirds and hope they are encountered again. The odds seem long, but we HAVE received some interesting information (see the Introduction on the home page for a few details). Numbered leg bands allow for just those sort of answers. I encourage folks to visit the Hummingbird Banding section of this website for more information on the specifics of this type of research. As an aside, these bands are indeed tiny! The outer diameter of each band (for Ruby-throated / Rufous / Black-chinned sized hummers) averages about 2.05 mm. They fit comfortably around the wire of a large diaper pin. Each band weighs approximately 6.6 mg (that's 0.0066 g, or 0.00023 ounces). In other words, it takes about 4,350 bands to weigh one ounce. You can use a first class stamp to mail a one-ounce letter! During it's "lean, mean, breeding machine" and winter times of year, the average hummingbird (Ruby-throated, Rufous, Black-chinned) will weigh approximately 3.5 grams. That's 0.1234 ounces, no kidding! In other words, it takes 8 non-migrating hummingbirds to weigh a single ounce! They can nearly double their body weight when they're ready to migrate! So, you could (theoretically) mail 8 hummingbirds or 4,350 hummingbird bands for the cost of a first-class stamp. By comparison, one penny (minted after 1982 when the composition changed) weighs 2.5 g (that's 0.088 ounces). So a hummingbird generally weighs less than two pennies! And Calliope Hummingbirds -- the smallest birds in North America -- weigh about as much as a single penny! A single hummingbird band (6.6 mg) on a typical hummingbird (3.5 g) is approximately 0.19 % of the bird's body weight. Accepted standard bird banding criteria states that the "load" (bands, transmitters, etc.) that researchers place on wild, flying birds should not exceed 3 to 5% of the bird's body weight. Hummingbird bands, at 19/100ths of 1 percent, are FAR below this suggested standard. Want to relate that to humans? OK -- it's the same as a 200 pound person putting two rolls of pennies (100 pennies) in a pocket. Weight-wise, you probably wouldn't even know it was there. Many western belts (with metal buckle) weigh relatively more than that!
Do you have a hummingbird band that I can add to my bird band collection? Sorry! The bands used by researchers on wild birds are supplied by the US Geological Survey / Bird Banding Laboratory. They are federal property until applied to a bird, and every single band issued to licensed banders by the BBL must be accounted for. Banders are not allowed to give them out; they must be used for their intended purpose. You may find that eBay often has bird bands for sale -- these (hopefully) are taken from legally hunted birds (ducks, geese, etc.) or are recovered from other birds found dead -- a process that is apparently legal (but don't take my word for it -- look into this for yourself!). Hopefully these bands have been reported to the BBL so that the valuable data gleaned from the terminal life event of the host bird will find its way to the researchers who banded the bird in the first place. Which brings us to another point -- if you find a bird that has a band on it and can read the numbers (which usually means the bird is dead), please report the details (band #, date, location, etc.,) to the BBL by calling 1-800-327-BAND, or via the internet here.
Do hummingbirds migrate on the backs of geese? Despite what a 2003 article in BIRDING magazine implied, many people apparently believe that hummingbirds migrate on the backs of larger birds, particularly geese. I haven't been able to determine where this myth started, but I suspect it somehow morphed into existence because "reasonable" people believed that because of their diminutive size, hummingbirds would be unable to migrate any great distance on their own. We now know that is entirely false. The tiny Ruby-throated Hummingbird is able to make the nonstop flight across the Gulf of Mexico by fattening up to nearly double it's body weight and using that stored fat to burn for energy on the journey. I'm not kidding! I've seen them over the Gulf with other migrating birds myself. There is ample additional evidence, too. These are incredible creatures. Besides, hummingbirds and geese come from different habitats, migrate at different times, and have different destinations!
What should I feed my hummingbirds? In the wild, hummingbird get their proteins from eating lots of bugs! They are regular miniature flycatchers (see Tom Kaminski's video, "Hooked on Hummingbirds" for a great slow-motion shot of a hummingbird "hawking" a gnat). They also drink lots of flower nectar, which in most cases is essentially sucrose and water (some flowers contain varying concentrations of fructose and glucose as well, but most hummingbird-pollinated plants contain mostly sucrose). You can duplicate this nectar nearly perfectly by mixing 1 cup plain granulated table sugar and 4 cups water (scale up or down as needed -- for instance, 1/4 cup sugar and 1 cup water) and placing this solution in one of a zillion, clean, commercial hummingbird feeders. Do not add or substitute ANYTHING else. No corn syrup, no "Sweet-and-Low", no "Splenda" (lack nutritional value!), no brown sugar, no "raw" sugar (it contains impurities and molasses). Plain table sugar is the key -- it's pure sucrose, pretty much the exact stuff that hummingbird-pollinated flower nectar is made of! Brown sugar in particular is treated in more detail here, but the Cliff Notes version is that it contains 3.5% to 6.5% molasses and several other minerals (calcium, sodium, and iron, to name a few) -- and iron has been shown to be detrimental to the health of hummers. They can't secrete it, and the buildup ("iron storage disease") in the liver has been the cause of many hummer deaths both in the wild and in the aviary at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson. Please avoid using it in your hummingbird feeders. What about honey? In a nutshell, please do not use honey either. Want the full story? Read this. Judging from website "hits," tens of thousands of people will tell you not to use honey because it will cause a fatal fungus on the tongues of hummingbirds. I agree that honey is likely not a good substitute for a variety of reasons, but the tongue-fungus reason is still up in the air. Brazilian naturalist Dr. Augusto Ruschi is credited with determining that a fermented honey-solution can cause a deadly fungus on the tongue of hummingbirds, but I've been unable to date to find the actual citation for this research. If anyone can provide me with Ruschi's peer-reviewed literature (likely in Portuguese) on this topic, I'll [jokingly] name my next child after you. John K. Terres is widely recognized as propogating Ruschi's claim through his dated book "Songbirds in Your Garden" (1953; Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York). So apparently the research was done prior to 1953. Was this "good" research? Terres apparently considered it worthy of including in his 50 year old book which has taken on a life of it's own since then, but the jury is still out. All that aside, I would still absolutely not recommend honey for use in backyard hummingbird feeders when a proven safe alternative that mimics natural flower nectar (granulated table sugar = sucrose) is available. Just be careful about spouting the honey - tongue fungus connection without acknowledging that peer-reviewed evidence to back it up appears to be lacking. (Again, if it exists, I've been unable to locate it). In your garden, flower nectar doesn't last long enough to spoil, but your feeder nectar can turn sour quickly, especially in hot climates. So only put the amount of solution in your feeder that can be consumed in a few days, and change the solution (and clean the feeder) every 3-4 days. Table sugar or commercial hummingbird food? The pet section of virtually every store will tantalize you with a variety of hummingbird foods, all with assorted additives, vitamins and minerals that sound like they are important ingredients. You'll see them in powdered or liquid form with bright packages and fancy advertising. Resist the temptation to buy these. Despite what the labels say, they do NOT emulate the contents of flower nectar any better than plain old granulated table sugar and water. You're paying far too much for brand-name packaging and advertising and unnecessary preservatives and supplements; you can make more nectar with regular table sugar at a fraction of the price. If you insist on spending your $$ on "pre-made" nectar, at the very least, avoid nectars which contain red dye (see FAQ below). Also, be wary of certain liquid nectars such as "Natural Springs Nectar" that you can find at many Wal-Mart stores. This fancy 58-oz red jug of liquid "vitamins and minerals" does NOT contain sugar! As the fine print will tell you, you have to add that ingredient at home. So you're essentially paying a couple bucks for water and preservatives... Remember, wild hummingbirds get their vitamins and minerals from insects and wild food items. If you're going to add sugar to something anyway -- just add it to regular water! Strawberry-scented nectar by Perky Pet? Why? Hummingbirds, like most other birds, have no sense of smell! What does that tell you about the advertising goals of a certain organization? I also discourage hummingbird-watchers from using protein-enriched nectars in their backyard feeders. It's a different story for zoos or aviaries where hummingbirds generally do not have access to free-flying insects. In order to provide the hummers with a complete diet, zoos may have to use protein-enriched solutions such as Nektar Plus. These specialty solutions must be changed religiously, even twice a day, to prevent them from spoiling. You and I should be content to let our free-flying hummers get their protein on their own, which they readily do even in winter! Expensive dietary supplements, such as Nektar Plus, are entirely unnecessary for free-flying birds in my opinion (and in the opinion of other researchers that I trust). When administered improperly by "lay people," these supplements likely do far more harm than good. Cane Sugar or Beet Sugar? Some folks claim table sugar made from sugar beets isn't taken as readily as cane sugar. Having lived in southwestern Idaho, with sugar beet fields everywhere you look and beet sugar prominently placed in the store aisles, I've not noticed an aversion to beet sugar with my hummingbirds. Folks then explain to me that hummers will eat what's available, but given the CHOICE, they do not prefer beet sugar. Hmmm... Ross Dawkins, chemistry professor and bird researcher from Angelo State University (San Angelo, Texas) studied the sugar preferences¹ of Black-chinned Hummingbirds at Dan Brown's "Hummer House" in Christoval, Texas. He found that given the choice of identical concentrations (by weight) of five different sugars (glucose, fructose, cane sugar [Imperial Pure Cane Sugar], beet sugar [Albertson's Granulated Sugar], and high-fructose corn syrup), the hummingbirds clearly consumed more beet sugar than any of the others. In fact, beet sugar beet (ha) out cane sugar by nearly 40%. Dr. Dawkin's reported, "Any preference of beet sugar over cane sugar is surprising because both are very pure sucrose with only slight traces of other sugars or salts. If any preference really exists it must be due to trace impurities and their taste." ¹ Dawkins, R. 2005. Sugar preferences of Black-chinned Hummingbirds (Archilochus alexandri) at a mega feeding station in Texas. Presentation to 6th Biennial International Hummingbird Banders' Conference. Christoval, Texas. I wouldn't think of claiming that everyone should switch to beet sugar if they want the happiest hummers, but the lesson I take home from Dawkin's experiment is this:
To boil or not to boil? Many people were taught to boil their sugar solution "to retard spoilage." Some still believe this is important. I remain in the camp of the unconverted. Boiling certainly helps the sugar dissolve a bit faster, but unless you sterilize the feeder, too, the "retard spoilage" thing is nullified as soon as the nectar hits the unsterilized feeder reservoir. And then think about the very first hummingbird that puts its dirty bill into the nectar... Some also claim that boiling helps to evaporate the chlorine in the water. But chemically, the chlorine is neutralized upon contact with the sugars. So boil if you want to, but don't feel its a required step. In fact, you SHOULD STILL change the nectar and wash your feeders in hot water every 3-4 days whether you boil or not. Do it sooner if the solution begins to get cloudy or discolored. Too many people think that just because they boiled their solution, it won't sour as fast. To avoid that false sense of security, folks might consider NOT boiling their nectar! If mold accumulates in hard-to-clean areas, soak the feeder for 10 minutes or so in a sink full of water to which a small "glug" of bleach has been added. Rinse the feeder well after washing. Let it air dry. Any left over chlorine from the bleach will be quickly neutralized upon contact with the sugar water you'll be adding. Some folks claim the residue left behind by dish soap is distasteful for the hummers, so many researchers use elbow grease or bleach and avoid soaps when cleaning feeders. Since cleanliness is so important, choose a feeder that is durable and easy to disassemble completely for washing. A bottle-brush may be necessary to help scrub out crevices. If the feeder is washed frequently, mold will not become a problem -- and of course that should be the goal of every hummingbird lover, but if mold does invade -- bleach does the job!
How do I keep my feeder from
freezing? A significant problem for those who wish to continue feeding their hummingbirds throughout sub-freezing weather is how to deal with frozen feeders. Not only will this break certain feeders, it's significantly harder for hummingbirds to get nutrients off an ice-cube. There are many ways people address this problem. Some early risers choose to bring the feeder inside after dark and replace it before dawn. A less labor intensive solution is to hook up a heat lamp near the feeder. Your goal should be to just supply enough heat to prevent the syrup inside from freezing. You don't need to scald it! Adjust the bulb wattage or the distance from the feeder accordingly. Extravagant set-ups will include a timer and thermostat. But simple ones as shown at right are really just fine. Some homeowners have gone to great lengths to try new and inventive methods for keeping their feeders thawed. This often involves trips to the plumbing store for external warmers used to prevent pipes from freezing. Or sometimes you'll find yourself in a sporting goods store looking for chemical handwarmer pouches -- followed by a trip to the fabric store for cloth with which to sew (or knit / crochet, etc.) pockets to hold the warmers next to the feeder reservoir. Your imagination is really the limit, but the old heat lamp trick is generally the fall-back method of choice. PHOTO
CREDIT:
Should I add red dye to my hummingbird food? For my long answer, read this. Here's my short response. Red dye is a touchy subject for many folks. Some loathe its use. A few swear by it. The more research I do on this subject, the more convinced I become that it should NOT be part of a hummingbird's diet. Peer-reviewed, scientific research has shown that red dye in concentrations BELOW that present in some popular hummingbird nectars has negative effects (including cancer) in lab animals. Hummingbirds are attracted to the red on the feeder. The nectar need not be colored. Using the dye concentrations supplied by Opus for their commercially available red-dyed nectar, the amount of red dye (Red #40) consumed daily by an average hummingbird feeding on red Opus nectar can easily be 17x higher than the Accepted Daily Intake of Red #40 recommended for humans by the World Health Organization, and 12x higher than the concentration found to induce DNA damage in mice. Does this mean red dye is potentially dangerous for hummers? You decide. Bottom line: I'm convinced red dye may be harmful and is at the very least entirely unecessary to attract hummingbirds. Be safe and don't use dyed food in your feeder. Please. If you're interested, I've compiled a much more detailed explanation on the potential dangers of dyes, including citations and abstracts from pertinent scientific literature, and how the conclusion for the above red statement is reached on this page. Here fellow hummingbird researcher and author Sheri Williamson and I also refute claims regarding red dye made by popular hummingbird feeder suppliers, such as Perky Pet and Opus.
What is the small, striped hummingbird flying around my flowers at dusk? North American hummingbirds do not have striped wings. Chances are these tiny "birds" are really moths. A group of moths called "sphinx moths" (Sphingidae) have the common name "hummingbird moth" because at a glance they look and behave like hummingbirds. Check out these web pages to see if your "bird" looks anything like them: HummingbirdMoth.com or another page or check out these links.
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