A string of lights generates enough warmth to prevent a hummingbird feeder from freezing, and adds a festive touch to the garden at the same time.
With its aerial antics and its feathered beauty, the Anna’s hummingbird is a magical jewel of the Northwest winter garden.
The male’s throat shimmers iridescent orange, red and violet in the sunlight, and both the male and female show off shining pale green plumage on their backs.
While other species have vacated to warmer climes, the Anna’s hummingbird will stay year-round. If you offer a source of food you will have a regular visitor in your garden.
The Anna’s is the largest of the Northwest hummingbirds, said Nick VanGilder at Backyard Bird Shop in Vancouver. Its body is the size of a thumb joint and it weighs no more than a nickel. Even so, a hummingbird expends more energy for its weight than any other animal in the world.
With its wings whipping the air 70 to 80 times per second, it can hover, fly straight up and down, sideways, backwards, and even upside down. The unique anatomy of its wings means it generates power from both the upbeat and the downbeat, and can travel up to 50 miles per hour.
All of this activity burns a lot of calories, and the hummingbird needs a constant source of food. A hummingbird will eat more than half its weight each day, and drink up to eight times its body weight in water.
Because it must have a constant source of calories, the hummingbird has adapted to store food through the night in its throat pouch, called a crop, where it slowly digests it. When temperatures dip further its torpor mechanism takes over, dropping the bird’s body temperature from 105 degrees to within several degrees of the surrounding air. Its heart rate slows to 40 beats per minute, far below the normal rate of 500 to 1,200.
Why wouldn’t the Anna’s hummingbird fly away south with it’s cousins rather than stay in this northern cold? It has only been overwintering in the Northwest for the last few decades; prior to the 1930s it was seen no farther north than the San Francisco bay. By 1964 it was spotted in Seattle, and today it breeds on Vancouver Island and into Alaska.
One theory is that the Anna’s hummingbird followed the northward establishment of another species, the blue gum eucalyptus. First introduced in Southern California in the 1870s, the eucalyptus has naturalized northward along coastal California. The tree’s nectar-rich flowers bloom in winter, offering food for the Anna’s.
Another theory, and perhaps equally true, is that urban horticulture has provided a range of non-native plants which bloom throughout the year, offering a human-grown habitat for the hummers.
Hummingbirds are attracted to nectar-rich plants, especially those with bright red or orange blossoms. Selecting garden plants that bloom at different times of year, including winter-blooming specimens such as winter jasmine, viburnum sweet box, witch hazel, Oregon grape, and heather provides a natural source of food through the seasons.
Equally important to a hummingbird diet is protein from insects and spiders, a food source that is available year-round. They consume the bulk of their protein needs from spiders and their nests, small gnats, flies, and insect eggs, said VanGilder.
Hummingbird feeders provide an important supplement to more scarce winter nectar sources, and attract hummers into viewing range of their human hosts. Their busy feeding and agile loop-de-loops in the air are great entertainment to watch.
It is a myth that once you feed hummingbirds, you must keep food available at all times, said VanGilder. Natural sources of food will sustain it if the feeder is empty. Though, he laughed, they might be a little miffed at you.
When selecting a hummingbird feeder, look for one that has red on it somewhere, to simulate a flowering plant. VanGilder suggests looking first at the ease of cleaning. Choose a feeder that comes apart easily so it can be thoroughly cleaned. Mold and bacteria will spoil the sugary feeding solution within a couple of days during warm weather. Cleaning with hot water, vinegar and a bottle brush every four to five days will discourage mold.
Hummingbirds are territorial, so if you have several regulars, hang feeders out of sight of each other to attract more birds and avoids disputes.
When it comes to filling the feeder with a hummingbird treat, the simplest choice is also the best — a homemade solution of one part refined cane sugar to four parts water. Boil the water, stir in the sugar and remove the solution from heat. Let it cool, and fill your freshly-cleaned feeder.
Freezing temperatures increase the hummingbird’s need for calories, while causing their food sources to freeze or go dormant. This is an especially important time to make solution available in a feeder. But, those same low temperatures cause the sugar mix to freeze as well.
VanGilder suggests mixing a sugar to water ratio of 3-1 for a short period of up to a couple of days. The greater density will help to prevent the mixture from freezing, though it is unhealthy for the hummingbirds over a longer period of time. And, he emphasized, make sure to use refined table sugar for the solution, not raw sugar or honey which may contain impurities or bacteria.
A string of lights around the feeder, or a work light aimed at it from a few feet away, will also generate enough heat to prevent freezing. At Backyard Bird Shop, a heat element designed for bird feeders is available.
Hang your feeder where you can see it from an often-glimpsed window, so you can enjoy your new neighbors. Once your hummingbirds know where their food source is, they will often clamor at the window when the feeder is empty.
The Anna’s hummingbird is one of the first to build its nest as winter wanes, beginning as early as February. Your well-fed hummers will emerge from winter ready to provide a new generation of entertainment outside your window.
