On Fri, 09 Sep 2016 08:02:12 -0400, Gary > wrote:

wrote:
>>
>> Brooklyn1 wrote:
>> >Today I bought new
>> >feeder food, a syrup concentrate instead of the sugar, 1 part syrup to
>> >3 parts water. I bought it at Lowe's:
>> >http://www.birdfeeders.com/perky-pet...oncentrate-238
>>
>> Ornithologists always advocate making your own syrup, one part sugar
>> to four of water. The red dye in the boughten syrup is unnecessary
>> and bad for them.
>
>So I guess the red dye is to attract them? Someone mentioned that they
>are attracted to the color red.

That is true, however all the hummer feeders I have seen have plenty
of red plastic to bring them in, they just don't need food dye.

It's hard to believe they could just
>live off of sugar water. Do these birds die very young from diabetes?
>They *do* get plenty of exercise though with all the mega wing action.

They do eat other things, when they arrive here in May there are few
flowers blooming and they eat little flying bugs.
>
>I assume they get other nutritional needs from some other source but if
>they have a bird feeder handy, would they even bother eating anywhere
>else? Are hummingbird feeders the "fast-food" joints for them?

No, I always put them out early so they were there to freshen up from
a long flight. Yes, it definitely meant it attracted them to nest in
the vicinity but although I had a beach at the bottom of the garden, I
had woods at the back. Their nests are nearly impossible to find,
tiny, tiny and the egg is usually the size of a pea. To know exactly
when to fill up the feeders and put outside I followed the hummer map
which shows their progress.

http://www.hummingbirds.net/map.html

The strange thing here is that I put out a feeder on a tree I can see
from my dining room window and a woman in the garden below called up
to me and told me I was wasting my time, she had tried for several
years and although two streets over on Coronation Street (yes, truly
that's its name!) they are plentiful, they just don't come here. She
was correct, so now I enjoy them at my kids houses.
>
>Guess it's time to Google them. :-D