I took down the hummingbird feeder yesterday as the nights are getting too cold for them to stay. I have heard that it is not a good idea to leave the feeders up too late because it encourages the birds to stay too late and may result in some being killed by the cold nights. This is my last 2008 photo taken three days ago. We have noticed several hummingbirds looking for the feeder in the last day or so.
I have replaced my old broken feeder with a smaller feeder for now but I intend to set up a different feeder on a pole before the ground freezes.
1 comment:
Not true! To paraphrase a colleague of mine, it takes more than a bottle of sugar water to short-circuit survival instincts honed over millions of years of natural selection. You can leave your feeder up as long as you're willing to care for it, and it may give late-hatching, sick, or injured hummingbirds the energy boost they need to make their way south to a safe winter haven.
Also, the easiest, cheapest, and safest thing to put in your hummingbird feeder is 1 part white granulated sugar to 3 or 4 parts water. The red dyes used in commercial "instant nectar" and liquid food coloring are unnecessary, unnatural, and potentially harmful in the quantities consumed by hummingbirds. For more, please see Hummingbird F.A.Q.s
Sheri Williamson
fieldguidetohummingbirds.wordpress.com
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