[birdky] Re: sugar/water ratio for hummers
- From: Jackie Elmore <jackiebelmore@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <wrscates@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Mark Monroe <markmonroe1@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2010 21:47:21 -0500
Sunday 9/12/2010
I am unconvinced that flowers offer that much more in the way of potential
nutrition than our feeders. Certainly it's much easier for a hummer to come to
a feeder stocked with sugar water (be it 5:1, 4:1, or 3:1) than to feed in a
yard full of flowers. However I think it IS a valid apples to apples, oranges
to oranges comparison, flowers vs. feeders. Most flower's nectar is made up
of sucrose (table sugar), glucose and fructose with small amounts of protein
and salts. When given a choice hummers preferred sucrose in one lab test. The
insects that the sweeter flowers attract offer most of the hummer's nutrition
not the flowers' nectar or our feeders. If anything, hummers will come more
often to a feeder with a 4:1 or 5:1 ratio mix than a 3:1 ratio mix (good for
the viewer, maybe not so good for the hummer) but probably will use more
energy....energy they could use hawking for insects.
My bottom line is to plant many many flowers... hummingbird nectar flowers and
flowers that attract lots of small insects that hummers will eat.
Jackie B. Elmore
near Stanford, KY.
Lincoln Co.
> From: wrscates@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> To: markmonroe1@xxxxxxxxx
> CC: jackiebelmore@xxxxxxxxxxx; birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [birdky] Re: sugar/water ratio for hummers
> Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2010 10:29:17 -0500
>
> Yeah,
> I did not mean to imply that I thought one ratio or the other was better at
> attracting birds (we actually split the diff.) Our feeders are in a rather
> large rose garden surrounded by zennias and butterfly bush. The colorful
> flowers probably draw the birds into the circle and the feeders keep them
> hanging around. I think we'd have large numbers of birds even if we used a
> 5:1 ratio. We use the 3-1/2:1 ratio because it just works out better with
> the large jug we mix in (7 c H20 for 2 c sugar.)
> Factors other than water-sugar ratio are probably more important in
> attracting large hummer numbers.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mark Monroe" <markmonroe1@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <wrscates@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: <jackiebelmore@xxxxxxxxxxx>; "BirdKY BirdKY Listserve"
> <birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Saturday, September 11, 2010 11:49 PM
> Subject: [birdky] Re: sugar/water ratio for hummers
>
>
> As has been noted, both mixtures can be, and are, successful.
> However, to avoid some misconceptions in favor of 3:1, many of the
> enormous staging areas (i.e LBL here in KY with its several hundred
> hummers) use 4:1, and to my knowledge, all hummingbird banders and
> major sites recommend that mix. There really are NO 'major' migration
> sites that claim to have more birds using 3:1 when they have tested it
> that I am are aware of. If there are any out there have statistically
> found an advantage , we'd be interested in their results.
>
> As for flowers, they offer far more than a sugar/water mixture does in
> the way of potential nutrition, so that is not a valid apples to
> oranges comparison when it comes to feeder mixtures. Regardless,
> birds clearly cannot take the same volume out of flowers that they do
> a feeder in any set time period.
>
> Now, I'm certainly not trying to dissuade opinions and input and
> certainly welcome it, just passing on the current data that has been
> collected. :)
>
> Mark
>
> Mark Monroe
> Louisville, KY
>
> On Sat, Sep 11, 2010 at 10:46 PM, Bill Scates <wrscates@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
> > I go along with that.
> > We use 3 -1/2 cups water to 1 cup sugar and have 9 feeders out with 100+
> > birds. (They're impossible to count but at times there seem to be birds at
> > every position on most of the feeders with that many more vying for a
> > place.) We've begun replacing the 16 oz. feeders with 32 oz. just so we
> > can
> > keep up and don't have to fill them more than once/day.
> >
> > We rarely use sugar for any purpose except hummer nectar so I've wondered:
> > How much do super market sales of sugar increase during the fall hummer
> > migration?
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Jackie Elmore
> > To: BirdKY BirdKY Listserve
> > Sent: Saturday, September 11, 2010 8:57 PM
> > Subject: [birdky] Re: sugar/water ratio for hummers
> > Saturday 9-11-2010
> >
> > I've never been just a follower when it came down to the discussion of
> > what
> > the correct sugar/water ratio for hummingbirds should be. After
> > researching
> > several sources there is still much reason for debate. Much of the answers
> > can be found in studying flowers. I find it very interesting that
> > hummingbird-pollinated flowers AVERAGE about a 3:1 (25%) sugar to water
> > nectar ratio....that's anywhere from 10:1 to 1:1 ratios in all examples.
> > For example 'Lady-in Red' Salvia coccinea averaged 33% sugar when tested
> > in
> > one study...that's a 2:1 ratio. Most of our favorite hummingbird flowers
> > average about 25 to 30% sugar to water ratio. A 4:1 ratio is only 20%
> > sugar
> > to water....sooo I feed a 3:1 ratio and have done so for over eight years
> > now with much success.
> >
> > Jackie B. Elmore
> > near Stanford, KY.
> > Lincoln Co.
> >
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