This is a fo
llow up to yesterday's post. A number of people seem to be very interested in hummingbirds, and seemed surprised that hummers do eat insects, not just nectar and sugar water. They do consume many small insects such as gnats, mosquitoes, aphids and fruit flies. According to the article that I read from the Hilton Pond Center, these are their source of fat and protein. Just before they start their migration, they sometimes go on a feeding frenzy of insects, in preparation for their flight.If you want to read more about them, go to www.hiltonpond.org. The information I got was from their piece called Hummingbird Myths.
8 comments:
How smart these little critters are!
:-Daryl
Thanks for the website, I do love hummingbirds. Hope you had a good weekend.
Thanks, Bobbie, for this excellent post and neat photo, and for the link to the Hilton Pond hummingbird info. The 12 Myths was really good! One of my particular crusades is the proper care of hummingbird feeders. I am planning a spring post on that topic, and also one about seed feeders for the winter.
Bobbie, I did not know that about hummingbirds. They are fascinating little things. I will check out the article. Thanks.
Heard on the TV this weekend that a hummingbird weighs less than a nckel coin.
We spent the holiday weekend passing a nickel around to all the amazed relatives.
Imagine((( )))
Bear
We've had very hummingbirds here. Maybe your info will shed some light on why. Thanks!
I'll have to tell my 4-year-old this information about hummingbirds eating insects. He was discussing how the mosquitoes like to bite him, take out all of his "sugar" ("that's why I eat a lot of sugar, because they just take it all!") and take it back to their homes to feed the rest of the mosquitoes. Not quite how it works, but he went on to include spiders and all insects basically sucking the sugar out of him. :)
So, now I can tell him that the hummingbirds will eat the mosquitoes that bit him. He will love that. ;)
They're so fantastic. For some reason, my parents used to live in a house that had tons of hummingbirds. They had a feeder right outside the kitchen window and I remember watching them for hours as a child. The house they live in now (about 20 minutes away from the first house) NEVER has seen a hummingbird. It's so strange that they're that sensitive that 20 minutes means no birds.
Ah, well, I hope I get to see one one of these days!
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