During the winter months you will have fewer hummingbirds visiting your hummingbird feeders, but this is not to say that the feeders don’t still provide a vital source of nourishment to the birds that visit your feeders. In the winter, you may wish to change your ratio used to make your nectar solution from the usual 4:1 mix to 3:1 to help retard freezing of the nectar solution. Even in the winter, it is not necessary to put anything in the nectar solution other then sugar water.
Category: Hummingbird Food
In the winter, you will want to only fill your feeder half-full, due to a decrease in the number of birds that will likely be visiting your feeder. You will want to change the nectar weekly, rather then every 3-4 days, to ensure that the nectar has not spoiled. A spoiled food source will drive the birds away and it will be hard to get the birds to once again trust your food supply.
In order to prevent the nectar from freezing, you may want to bring the feeder in at night. This will help ensure that nectar solution will remain liquefied when the feeder is once again placed outside and therefore the birds will be able to get a drink of the nectar whenever they need one.
In very cold weather, many people choose to alternate feeders by having two of them. This allows the warm one to be put out at mid-day and the cold one can be brought in the house.
There are many other alternative methods to help ensure that the nectar solution stays warm or to keep snow off of the feeder. These include the following: heat lamps, electric pipe wrap, and other creative solutions that people have developed.
Lastly, your winter feeder should include a perch; this will allow the bird to feed without expending much energy as well as enabling you to have a close-up view for observation and photography.
Categories
What Does a Hummingbird Eat?
The hummingbirds diet consist of nectar, both from flowers and hummingbird feeders, and insects. Nectar is the primary food source, but insects are also neccessary as a source of protein.
90 percent of the hummingbird’s diet consists of nectar from flowers or feeders. The hummingbird will eat between 5-8 times per hour for about 30 seconds at a time. A hummingbird may visit about 1000 flowers per day.
They also eat insects and spiders which provides the protein necessary for their diet. Protein is of vital importance to a hummingbird, because they can not survive on nectar alone.
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What is Hawking?
When the hummingbird catches the insect, this is done using a process known as “hawking.” This is when the hummingbird flies and dives to capture the insect out of the air.
Bee Balm
This perennial blooms in midsummer and grows about three feet tall. There are many varieties of colors and sizes available at nurseries. The variety Jakob Kline is resistant to powdery mildew.
Cardinal Flower
The red spike of flowers arises from the basal leaves of this perennial in late summer. This plant tolerates some shade and prefers a moist soil.
Trumpet Creeper
A tall, vigorous vine, the large flowers are very attractive to hummingbirds. The pictured variety has yellow flowers but most often they have red flowers.
Coral Honeysuckle
This plant is considered a well-behaved vine which flowers profusely in April and May and then sporadically throughout the summer. With the return of cooler weather in the fall, it flowers heavily again. The pictured variety has yellow flowers but they are usually pinkish-red.
Columbine
This perennial blooms from April to June and grows about one foot high. It tolerates some shade and likes to grow amid rocks.
All information listed above comes from the Migratory Bird Center. You may find out much more about them by clicking on the link provided below.
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/conservationandscience/migratorybirds/webcam/hummingbirds.cfm