Probably the easiest way to attract hummingbirds to your yard is by filling your bird feeder with a sugar water hummingbird food. This is a simple and nice gesture towards these extremely agile and pretty little creatures that come into your yard or garden.
Hummingbirds are amazing creatures that expend an astounding amount of energy every day. Hummingbirds are extremely small birds, typically weighing between 3 and 7 grams, but they require an abundance of energy in order to live. This is because their activity level is extremely high, and their biological clock runs incredibly fast. The heartbeat rate of a flying hummingbird may reach up to more than 1200 beats per minute!
It is due to their astonishing level of activity and also their heartbeat rate that hummingbirds must feed so very frequently, flying from flower to flower gathering nectar, which is the main source of their energy. Nectar contains, in addition to water, sucrose, glucose and fructose, all of which are different forms of sugar. So a sugar water hummingbird food is as close to their natural diet as you can get.
Hummingbirds are voracious eaters, and they have to eat between 5 and 14 times every hour. The stomach capacity of a hummingbird is quite small, and therefore it cannot hold too much food at once. That is why they must feed very frequently so as not to starve. At any given moment during the period of activity, they are only a few hours away from death by starvation! The need to be frequently acquiring food is a major survival issue for them. This is especially true in today’s society when concrete jungles are extending and wiping out forests, trees and flowers.
A tipical human being normally eats about 2% to 4% of their own weight every day. The hummingbird must eat,under normal circumstances, more than 500% of its own body weight everyday just in order to survive! Providing a high-energy sugar water hummingbird food in your bird feeder is one of the best gestures of kindness that you can make towards these exquisite creatures of the air.
2 replies on “Sugar Water as Hummingbird Food”
All this information is fine, I already knew most of it. What I can’t remember is the ratio of sugar to water. I usually make up about a quart at a time and store it in the fridge until needed. I can;t find my receipe ! Can you help me? Thanks, Phyllis Byrd
To make your own nectar solution, follow the following instructions.
The ratio is one part sugar to four parts water. For example, one cup sugar would require the use of four cups of water.
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