Glass feeders are the best. If you buy plastic make sure it is food grade plastic or UV stabilized plastic. That will ensures there is no chemical leakage into the food the birds eat. Cheap plastic disintegrates and will contaminate the food.
Whether you use inverted feeders or the basin style, make sure that the feeder can be completely dismantled for cleaning.
Boil water in a pot then add the sugar, or you may add boiling water from a kettle to sugar, stir until the sugar completely dissolves.
Other basin feeders have yellow flowers which can be popped out to clean because mould can easily grow between the flower base and the feeder. Feeders should be cleaned with hot water no soap. The feeder should be totally dismantled and feeding ports taken apart. Use a bottle brush for inverted types and pipe cleaners for the small holes. Mould is a death sentence to hummingbirds. Rinse the parts several times in hot water to remove all traces of the bleach. With some of the inverted feeders they have a yellow basket at the feeder port which is prone to getting mouldy.
You can buy replacement ports if you are having problems. We have also been tracking the Fall Hummingbird Migration since , one of the very few hummingbird sites who track the migration during this time of year. To report your Fall Migration Sighting for click here. Some ask, "Why track the Fall Migration? This warning helps our visitors to be ready with extra feeders and nectar for the migrating hummingbirds who need the nutrition and fuel for their long journey.
Submit your sighting to our Migration Map. Where do they travel? Hummingbird migration routes vary from species to species. The most famous migration is the Ruby-throated because this remarkable bird travels from Central America and Mexico, crosses the Gulf of Mexico none-stop and continues as far north as eastern Canada. It should be noted that this route would be dangerous in the Fall because of a significant chance of missing the Yucatan Peninsula.
For this reason southbound Ruby-throated hummingbirds follow the Gulf Coast through Louisiana and Texas. Migration routes are not fixed but continue to evolve. The Rufous hummingbird is known to have the longest migration route.
Typically a Rufous flies north along the Pacific Coast from Mexico through California to their breeding grounds as far north as northern Canada and Alaska. They return south through the Rocky Mountains. Nonetheless, more recently there have been many sighting of Rufous hummingbirds expanding their migration route by crossing southern Canada from west to east and continuing south along the Atlantic coastline sometimes wintering in the southern Unites States.
As we have said, most hummingbirds migrate but an increasing number of western hummingbirds are being spotted and banded in winter. Could our changing climate be responsible or something else? People often worry about the safety of these vagrant hummingbirds during a winter cold snap and should call the local Audubon Society for information. How do hummingbirds complete this amazing feat?
A common myth about hummingbird migration is that they migrate on the backs of geese. Like other myths, this explanation was probably invented to solve a mystery.
How could such tiny birds migrate those tremendous distances? Possibly, people who truly loved hummingbirds were looking for a softer and easier journey for their precious little friends. The truth is that hummingbirds do make the arduous migration journey on their own. I was! Yet, here is the genius of nature. When flying alone these tiny birds become almost invisible to predators. Unlike geese, hummingbirds fly low, not much higher than rooftops and the treetops, in search of food along the way.
How fast does a hummingbird fly? The distance a hummingbird flies in one day is determined by the species, terrain, wind velocity, and food sources along the way. The average hummingbird flies 25 miles per hour. A Ruby-throated hummingbird flies across the Gulf of Mexico none-stop using the wind to their advantage, increasing their speed and shortening the time it takes to cross over the water.
Hummingbird banders have shown that this journey across the Gulf generally takes about 20 hours. So just think about it. This tiny bird flies non-stop for 20 hours across the water. How can they accomplish this incredible feat when we consider their food requirements? Otherwise you could be killing your birds. Nectar ferments very easily in hot weather and molds associated with this fermentation can not only kill the actual feeding bird, but can be transmitted back to the nest and kill the baby hummers.
Do not wash the feeder bottles with soap although I have seen mixed messages about this ; rather use a mild bleach solution and then rinse well. Another word of caution — do not make your nectar solution using honey or artificial sweeteners; use only white table sugar — that comes closest to natural nectar and do not add red colouring agents to the sugar solution.
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