Mike Easterday

I live in Arizona. Natural plants seem to work best here . Orange and yellow coloured flowering plants seem to really attract them .

Mike Easterday

I live in Arizona. Natural plants seem to work best here . Orange and yellow coloured flowering plants seem to really attract them .

EN Submarine Qualified Loc: Wisconsin East coast

Wife and I have always had feeders out.
As I understand it. Hummers are very territorial. The male(the one with the ruby throat and iridescent green shiny feathers) will fight to maintain his 'turf' read food supply and female. Mama ( white throat and very subdued green coloring (think sitting on a nest)
We have always had excellent attendance but like anything, the knowledge or instinct as to the feeders location has to be established and then the little guys come back every year. In our location, they usually get here about mother's day and shove off for Mexico when food supply is beginning to wane. Interestingly enough they make the hop across the Gulf in one flight.
Our deck is quite small and with both the wife and I sitting out, mama comes sometimes hovering about 5-6 inches in front of her face.
Talk about a calamity! Wife found our little girl lying on the deck. She had apparently hit our glass door and got knocked out. Carol scooped her up and for the next hour or so administered to her giving her water and lots of TLC. She was placed on a rug on the neighbors deck because it was shady. We had to go to lunch and when we returned, Carol went to pick her baby up for more water or TLC. With that, the little hummer took off with no lasting effects. Next time we saw her she was at 'her' feeder.
One spring we were hosts to about 15 hummers buzzing around the feeder. In a couple minutes the count was down but I managed a pic where there were still 6 in the pic. Again short time later, we were down to one pair.
I'm sure other things fit in since we always have a flowering plant out too. I have seen 'mama' hitting the petunias or impatients numerous times in addition to her feeder. We just use a syrup mixture made 4 to 1 water and sugar. Bring to a boil and cool. We keep the unused in the refrigerator.

no propaganda please Loc: moon orbiting the third rock from the sun

Several people who are ornithologists have told me that a higher concentration of sugar is helpful when the hummingbirds first arrive and to increase their strength on the way in their winter migration route, so say that 1 to 3 at first then 1 to 4 and then 1 t0 3 as they prepare to migrate. So we follow their recommendations.

Richard Rowland

Great stories of Hummingbird experiences, thanks, everyone. Only minutes ago, I witnessed two buzzing the feeder, however, it appeared that one is chasing the other one away. I'll do as suggested at put out a few more feeders. I'm interested in knowing more about the red dye coloring, and if its harmful to the little critters.

no propaganda please Loc: moon orbiting the third rock from the sun

Feeding Hummingbirds: The dangers of red dye


Updated from the original published in WildBird magazine (2008).
cherry-colored-feeder

The sugar water in this feeder is colored with a couple of teaspoons of natural cherry juice concentrate, not synthetic dyes.

Decades ago, when hummingbird feeders were made from plain glass vials or bottles, a little red coloring was often added to the sugar water to attract the birds’ attention. A tradition was born, and though modern commercial feeders are proven attractive without additional color in the contents, to many people a hummingbird feeder just doesn’t look right unless it’s filled with red liquid.

Hummingbird experts have long discouraged the used of colored feeder solutions as unnatural and unnecessary, but there was little more than anecdotal evidence to suggest how synthetic dyes might affect the birds’ health. Now studies on humans, lab animals, and even cell cultures are providing that evidence without turning the hummingbirds themselves into “guinea pigs.”

Some of the recent research into dyes and other food additives was spurred by the concerns of parents who suspected that these chemicals were linked to the increasing incidence of childhood maladies such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), asthma, and allergies. One of the prime suspects was FD&C Red No. 40 (allura red), an azo (coal-tar) dye used in the liquid food coloring found in millions of kitchens as well as in many prepared foods and beverages. In 2007, British researchers at the University of Southampton reported that Red No. 40 was among several popular food colorings that increased hyperactivity and reduced attention span in children when combined with the common food preservative sodium benzoate. These results validated previous studies as well as the experiences of many parents and teachers. Some European manufacturers responded by pledging to eliminate Red No. 40 and other suspect additives from candy, soft drinks, and similar products.

Though less well publicized than the Southampton study, earlier research also casts doubt on the safety of Red No. 40. In 2001 and 2002, researchers in Japan reported that Red No. 40 at doses as low as 10 milligrams of dye per kilogram of body weight induced DNA damage in the colons of mice. DNA damage is the first step in transforming a normal cell into a cancer cell. In a 1983 study, American researchers found that high doses of Red No. 40 administered to adult rats and their offspring resulted in “significantly reduced reproductive success, parental and offspring weight, brain weight, [and] survival” as well as behavioral abnormalities. Though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its use over twenty years ago, there is enough uncertainty about the safety of Red No. 40 that it is banned in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Another food dye under scrutiny is FD&C Red No. 3 (erythrosine), also found in liquid food coloring and often added to feeder solutions. In 1990, the FDA banned certain uses of Red No. 3 in response to a study that found that large doses of this dye cause thyroid tumors in male rats. Subsequent research has identified estrogen-mimicking effects of the dye on human breast cancer cells and linked high doses to reduced sperm production and behavioral changes in lab animals. (Neither Red No. 3 nor Red No. 40 should be confused with the infamous Red No.2, which was banned in the U.S. in 1976.)

What are the implications of this research for hummingbirds and the people who love and feed them? The most alarming aspect of these studies is that many of the harmful effects were dose dependent: The larger the dosage of dye, the greater the effect. A hummingbird the size of a Black-chinned needs to drink about two and a half times its body weight in 4:1 sugar water to meet its daily energy needs. If that sugar water was dyed bright red with Red No. 40, the bird would take in ten times the daily dosage of dye that it took to produce DNA damage in the Japanese studies. A hummingbird coping with cold temperatures or fattening for migration might need to drink twice as much sugar water per day, thereby doubling its dye intake.

The research into Red No. 40 also solves the mystery of why hummingbirds produce urine paler in color than the dyed sugar water they drink. Some of the dye is absorbed and chemically altered by the body, but an unpublished 1970 study found that a significant amount adhered to the intestinal lining of the test subjects. This may explain why the later Japanese study found the dye’s damage concentrated in the cells of the gut wall.

Not surprisingly, concern over the effects of artificial dyes on human health have sparked new interest in natural colorants for foods and beverages. Fruit, vegetable, and flower extracts are seldom as uniform in color or stable under as wide a range of environmental conditions as their synthetic counterparts, but research is underway to resolve some of these issues. Until plant-based food dyes become widely available, dye-free cherry, raspberry, or other fruit juice concentrate makes a safe and simple alternative for coloring hummingbird feeder solutions.

References

McCann, Donna et al. 2007. Food additives and hyperactive behaviour in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the community: a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. The Lancet , Volume 370 , Issue 9598 , 1560 – 1567. [summary]

Tsuda, S., M. Murakami, N. Matsusaka, K. Kano, K. Taniguchi, and Y.F. Sasaki. 2001. DNA Damage induced by red food dyes orally administered to pregnant and male mice. Toxicological Sciences 61:92-99.

Sasaki, Y.F., S. Kawaguchi, A. Kamaya, M. Ohshita, K. Kabasawa, K. Iwama, K. Taniguchi, S. Tsuda. 2002. The comet assay with 8 mouse organs: results with 39 currently used food additives. Mutat Res 519:103-119.

Vorhees, C.V., R.E. Butcher, R.L. Brunner, V. Wootten, and T.J. Sobotka. 1983. Developmental toxicity and psychotoxicity of FD and C red dye No. 40 (allura red AC) in rats. Toxicology 28:207-217.

Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives; WHO Food Additives Ser 15: Allura Red AC (1980).

Dees, C., M. Askari, S. Garrett, K. Gehrs, D. Henley, and C.M. Ardies. 1997. Estrogenic and DNA damage: Red No. 3 in human breast cancer cells. Environ Health Perspect 3:625-632.

Abdel Aziz, A.H., S.A. Shouman, A.S. Attia, and S.F. Saad. 1997. A study on the reproductive toxicity of erythrosine in male mice. Pharmacol Res 35:457-62.

badbobby Loc: texas

WAtchin hummers is much more fun and bettern watchin politics

Richard Rowland

Thanks, no propaganda. I just checked the container label, the Red 40 ingredient was listed. We'll switch to the sugar and water mixture.

no propaganda please Loc: moon orbiting the third rock from the sun

Watching hummingbirds is an enlightening experience, and an example of God's grace and love for His creations, while politics is an example of the influence of the actions of the dark forces.

no propaganda please Loc: moon orbiting the third rock from the sun

You are quite welcome

No Propaganda Please

NannyPat39

We put out one feeder the 15th of March and watch it until the first sighting. Each year there is one male that comes first, after about a week the others begin to arrive. We do not use colored mix. After we see the first bird we put 5 feeders around the yard close to shrubbery or under a big tree. Some years we have so many we put out more feeders. This year there weren't so many.

Liberty Tree

I use a mixture of one part sugar to four parts water. Heat on stove until sugar melts, stir, cool and put in feeder. This attracts them at my house.

EN Submarine Qualified Loc: Wisconsin East coast

Adding to my above post. Wife and I have ministered to a hummer 4 times counting the one above. First event, little gal got her wing feathers stuck in the dripping nectar in a gap on the porch. Wife picked her up and gave her the loving treatment of cleaning her feathers and plenty water and attention. All turned out well and the little gal took off. Next event was when a little one got into the garage and was confused on how to get out. Overhead door was open but she had gotten in the space above. It was very hot in the garage and we knew we had to act. I climbed up on top of a cabinet where I could just reach her hovering. She didn't care a bit when I took her in my hand. Passed her off to the wife while I climbed down. Same game as before. attention. water and caressing. Again the little one was fine.
Last time our Calico cat caught the little one and brought it into the house no doubt as a gift for mama. I was able to gently remove the hummer from the cat's mouth. She hadn't bitten the hummingbird. Usual gentleness and administering and the hummer was fine to be released outside. I remember each event vividly and am happy we could help the little beauties.

Richard Rowland

It appears that many have had enjoyable experiences with the little birds. Someone posted on Facebook a group of the little birds hovering and feeding out of a container being held. Reading the different experiences posted, it seems that unlike most birds, these little guys appear to be less afraid. I wonder why? Once again, thanks to all who have responded.

EN Submarine Qualified Loc: Wisconsin East coast

Along the line you mentioned someone posted a vid of a little one eating from a puddle of nectar in the palm of his hand.