Loving Hummingbirds to Death
Posted by: Kimberly Mason on June 8, 2012
source: http://www.almostdailynews.com/2012/06/08/hummingbirds-dont-love-them-to-death/
A Rufous hummingbird flies in for a quick snack, trusting that the nectar offered is safe to drink.
Hummingbirds are easy to attract to a backyard garden, a cinch to keep well fed, and a joy to watch. These sparkling jewels of summer are easy to love.
But if you don’t take proper care to provide healthy nectar and clean feeders, they’re also an easy bird to love to death.
Hummingbird feeders must be kept clean and free from mold and fungus, or the tiny hum-buzzers you so enjoy could develop a serious and deadly fungus infection. This infection causes the tongue to swell, making it impossible for the bird to feed.
Starvation is a slow and painful death.
“I hope that the thought of a single hummingbird’s death will motivate you to run out and grab your feeder — right now — and give it a good scrubbing.” ~Rita Rufous Sweetwater
But, just in case you need more motivation to keep your feeders clean, think of the children. A mother hummingbird can pass a fungal infection to her babies — who will also die of starvation.
Fermented nectar creates liver damage, which will also cause death. When you go on vacation this summer, take down your feeders or leave your feeders in the care of a trusted neighbor.
A Cautionary Tale
“The General”
Vickie Miller, of Chehalis, recently experienced the heartbreaking loss of an Anna’s Hummingbird she called “The General.”
“The General patrolled our backyard every day for over a year and a half. One day he came home with a swollen tongue and we knew he had a fungal infection,” Miller said. “We watched our beautiful General die within 24 hours.”
“I held him in my hand, inside a warm cloth, to help ease his passing,” Miller said. “Please, warn others to keep ALL their bird feeders clean.”
“Keep your hummingbird feeder so clean, that you would drink from it yourself. You don’t like to drink from a dirty glass, neither do I … and for me, it could be fatal.” ~Rita Rufous Sweetwater
The proper care of hummingbird feeders requires a significant commitment of time and energy. For Vickie Miller, the Anna’s Hummingbirds in her backyard have become a year-round commitment.
“In the winter, I bring the feeders in at night to keep them from freezing,” Miller said. “And I’m very diligent about keeping the feeders clean and scrubbed between fillings. It is especially important to change the nectar frequently in warm weather, because the nectar will spoil.”
If you see a neighbor with a dirty feeder, Miller said, “Please, tell them about The General and his fatal fungal infection.”
The Basics of Hummingbird Care
Providing a feeder with a perch helps the hummingbirds preserve precious energy while dining. Keep your hummingbird feeder in the shade. I keep my feeder on a swiveling hanger that I can move into the sun to get a good shot at them with my Nikon, and swing back into the shade when I’m done.
There are several easy-to-clean feeders available at local feed stores and online.
The Dr. JB’s brand is one I have seen recently. It has a wide-mouthed glass jar that is not only easy to fill, but easy to scrub clean. The base of the feeder of that brand comes apart so you can reach into every nook and cranny to scrub away the mold and fungus.
The Aspects HummZinger brand is also carried locally. The Farm Store (Chehalis) carries a hanging feeder and a window mounted feeder, both have lids that lift up for easy cleaning.
I have a More Birds Diamond Hummingbird Feeder, purchased from Kaija’s Garden and Pet (Chehalis).
To clean your feeder, flush the feeder with hot tap water and use a bottle brush to scrub the sides of the glass jar. Do NOT use soap; soap will leave a residue behind. (If you just can’t help yourself and must use soap, a bleach or vinegar and water solution rinse will remove soap residue.)
“Mmmmm, delicious!” says Rita, her eyes closed in the ecstasy of the moment.
Inspect the feeder carefully for black mold. If you see any mold growth, soak the feeder in a solution of 1/4 cup bleach to one gallon of water for one hour.
To make nectar, mix one part ordinary white cane sugar to four parts water. (Do not use store bought mixtures, do not use honey or any other kind of sugar — just ordinary white cane sugar.) Bring to a quick boil, stir to dissolve the sugar, then let the mixture come to room temperature before you fill your feeder.
The boiling water will help slow fermentation of the nectar, but as soon as a hummingbird beak dips and drinks, the microorganisms carried on the beak will be transferred into the nectar.
If the nectar becomes cloudy, it has spoiled and needs to be replaced. A sugar solution can spoil in as little as two days. If your feeder is hanging in the sun or outside temperatures are high, the nectar may start to ferment in just one day.
Put out only as much nectar as your birds will consume in two or three days. If you mix up a large batch of nectar, you can keep the rest in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
A male Rufous Hummingbird’s orange-red gorget shining in the sun.
Western Washington Hummingbirds
The most common visitor in western Washington gardens is the Rufous Hummingbird.
The Rufous Hummingbird male is known as the most aggressive of all the hummingbirds. He does not tolerate the presence of other males at “their” feeders and will chase anyone who dares to enter their territory.
The male has a rufous head and back (sometimes sprinkled with a little green), a white breast and an orangey red gorget. The females have a green back, light rufous sides and a creamy white breast.
Anna’s Hummingbirds have been known to hang around all winter in western Washington backyards.
According to Birds of North America, the Anna’s Hummingbird has moved northward, increasing their range, taking advantage of the feeding opportunities in gardens filled with exotic, ornamental plants and the hummingbird lovers catering to their nectar needs throughout the winter.
The Anna’s Hummingbird female is less conspicuously garbed than the male, wearing a quiet combination of grey and iridescent green.
The male Anna’s carries an impressive rose red “bib” that covers his entire head and neck. Both males and females have iridescent emerald green backs and grayish underparts.
The Calliope Hummingbird has been seen in western Washington recently (the sighting of a Calliope on the wetside always causes the Tweeters to get a little twitterpated), but it is a rare visitor here and prefers the east side and the mountains. The Calliope is smaller than the resident Rufous Hummingbirds. The males’ gorget feathers are long pinkish red streaks of color extending from under the bill and down their throat.
Parting Shot
Hummingbirds are the sparkling jewels of summer. If you decide to commit the time and energy to care for them, they will reward you with the gift of their beauty, their easy buzzy-charms, remarkable aerial displays, and quirky antics.
If you don’t have the time or energy to commit to their scrupulous care, consider planting a hummingbird garden instead.
This female Rufous Hummingbird flew incredibly close to the camera lens, a buzz-filled reminder that the hummingbird feeder was empty and needed refilling. It’s not too late to put up a hummingbird feeder and d raw a few of these delicate but demanding birds into your yard.
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The hummingbirds are so beautiful and stunning. They have beautiful colours on their body. First time coming across these beautiful birds. They are among the smallest of birds, and most specialized nectar-eating birds.
This article doesn’t just apply to taking care of Hummingbird feeders but also all kinds of bird feeders and anything used to feed birds and animals.Thank you for this wonderful sharing.
All birds are fascinating creatures, hummingbird are special small, colourful birds with iridescent feathers. First time coming across these beautiful birds. They are among the smallest of birds, and most specialized nectar-eating birds. Little birds with big appeal. Most of them live in tropical rain forests. These sparkling jewels of summer are easy to love but with much care heavy responsibility of offering them fresh, healthy food and safe, clean feeders. Feeders must be kept clean and free from mold and fungus else these unique birds might develop serious fungus infection. This infection will causes the tiny birds’s tongue to swell and cause a slow suffering death. Proper care and clean is the basic , save them from extinction before its too late.
Thank you pastor Loh Seng Piow for sharing this informative article. Care and love for all sentient beings nor matter how small there are.
Thank you Pastor Seng Piow for sharing this article. The hummingbirds are so beautiful and stunning. They have beautiful colours on their body. Although I myself do not feed the hummingbird but at least I learn about how deadly it can be for the hummingbird if they drink the nectar from a dirty feeder. I hope those people who feed the hummingbird will take precaution of the feeder. We need to take proper care of the birds before the extinct.
With folded palms,
Vivian Ong
Humming birds are just so delicate. The care and love that one has to give to them is just like how one should properly be treating the pets they have. They are just so delicate like guinea pigs, they can get hurt so easily when we do not provide the proper care and environment for them to be living in.
No matter what kind of animals that we are trying to be caring for, we should always be sure that we take the time and effort to find out more about them before we just start doing something for them. We may mean well, but we will never know if we are hurting them in the process until we read and find out more information about them.
To understand how they are is very important as we do not want to be harming them in the process that we are showing care and love for them. We may think that this is good for them, but in actual fact it is a way that we are harming them unknowingly.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this with all of us here. I never knew that there are so many things to be taking note of for the care of humming birds. Even though when these humming birds are considered as a wildlife instead of something that we keep as house pets.
Thank you Rinpoche for the sharing, We must have compassion to all animals and all sentient beings. Treat them as kind, with care and as sincere as we could. Unfortunately, I had killed countless lives and abandoned many of them. I hope I can improve, cultivate my compassion and find my inner Buddha.
Thanks Rinpoche for sharing this informative article, through this i developed a better understanding towards how fragile animal’s life are. We have to provide absolute caring in order to raise them perfectly.
Hummingbirds looks really nice in any garden. This is another case of Rinpoche caring and concerned for all types of beings big or small.
Lovely to watch the Hummingbirds, I think we can watch hummingbirds all day.
Dear Rinpoche,
It is amazing how just not caring for your hummingbird feeder can cause so much damage to the hummingbirds that feed on the feeder but also the off springs that are given nectar from their mother who has fed on a moldy/moss ridden hummingbird feeder.
The above article also highlights the message that when you intend to to show compassion to animals by feeding them, you shouldn’t just carelessly place food on feeders, bowls or etc everyday and not bother to take note of anything else on the feeding area.
This article doesn’t just apply to taking care of Hummingbird feeders but also all kinds of bird feeders and anything used to feed birds and animals.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful article Rinpoche.
Love
Jutika
Thank you Rinpoche for the sharing.This is the first time I come across such an interesting article on such an fascinating and beautiful bird. The photos of these hummingbirds are indeed beautiful.
It is quite rare to see a life hummingbird in Malaysia or where I stay now.I the past ,maybe 30 years back,I could remember seeing them feeding on honeysuckle flowers( those small bright red ones with lots of small flower grown in bunches).It could be that they are running out of habitats,what a shame.
We certainly hope that in time to come we could witness such magnificent birds live in our neighborhood again in the future.
From this post I learn more about Hummingbird, and the passion of author Kimberly Mason, she passed and spread the knowledge she knows about what will do harm to Hummingbird to those who do not know; with the motivation not to harm this tiny bird.
I believe Kimberly must be a beautiful lady with beautiful heart. She cares enough to come out with an article to tell people who are ignorance about things that will hurt the bird.
With knowledge plus compassion to save more lives, the knowledge we have is not only knowledge.
I’m always fascinated by hummingbirds.It is a sight to behold,how it stays stationary in the air with its wings propelling ,happily sucking nectar from the flowers.
Yes hummingbirds are certainly not easy to take care of, due to the ernomous time, commitment and energy needed to suscribe to their required care. Though one could be rewarded with the admiration of their sparkling rare beauty, one could also easily be the cause of their death unknowlingly. One is warned to be extremely careful and attentive to their special feeding and living habits. It certainly requires a year-round commitment of diligent proper-caring and looking after. A hummingbird is truly a rare-specie bird with a sparkling of jewel beauty, but not easy to take care off!
Thanks for Rinpoche’s sharing. This is a details information to show how to care for Hummingbirds.if we really care, we should put in efforts to do necessary steps to ensure Hummingbirds can have clean feeder. The info should share out.
thank you Rinpoche, i guess many people don’t know this. It is sad.
In Malaysia we barely see these guys and they are animals and animals are like us, alive and can die due to things that are bad for out body like them. I never knew these things about humming birds. Thank you for sharing Rinpoche.
Hummingbirds are definitely very unique and beautiful, to take a picture of them is not an easy task at all, it requires a lot of patience and passion. They are very mischievous and quick, I’ve never seen a live hummingbird before, guess they must be really small in size. Thank You Rinpoche for taking Your time out to do the research and share it here with us so we are able to care for the hummingbirds for efficiently.
Humming birds are so fragile but they are sentient beings just like us. We should treat them as such. If they come to us, we should give them nourishment and give them the care they need. I wish I could see birds like this in KL.
Thanks Rinpoche’s teaching on this amazing hummingbirds care. I think the best way to keep this hummingbirds active in our garden is by planting a hummingbird garden. This is much more nature and disease free for hummingbirds to live happily. An Indonesian flowering plant with pretty blooms in the shape of dainty sparrows simply called seow niao hwa (“little bird flower” in Mandarin, Stromanthea & Gingers Familys, Fuchsia, Canna Flower, Magenta, Myrtaceae family, Bougainvillea flower, Blue Butterfly Bush, honeysuckle flower, Aloe Vera, Verbena Bonariensis, Lantana, Ixora Coccinea, Bleeding Heartwine and many more providing the nature nectar.
Humming birds are amazing animals. They are so unique and special in their own way. But I never knew that there were so many different types of humming bird. So I found this post very interesting to read and learn. Thank you for sharing with us.
Humming birds are fragile and delicate. Indeed, to care for them is like caring for a baby.
Birds are also alive, as much as we do. If we do intend to feed them, we should put our passion into it.
Unfortunately in Malaysia, we hardly see them in our backyard.
Thank you Rinpoche for the nice article on caring for these amazing creatures. They are beautiful.