Question:
What do you think about these new products out there on the market that are geared toward improving the sugar solutions that we offer to hummingbirds?
Response:
There are actually a number of such products available to folks offering sugar solutions to hummingbirds and for various purposes. For example: one new product on the market called Hummingbird Healthy contains a ’special blend of essential oils formulated specifically for hummingbirds’ that is all-natural and contains no traces of copper. The idea is that first, it provides an alternative to the practice of adding a wee bit of copper to one’s sugar solution to stave of spoilage by bacteria, algae and or/mold. In fact, one can buy another product called Nector Defender that is supposedly does exactly that. Hummingbird Healthy has been touted as an alternative food source for hummers to discourage them from visiting feeders set up by bee keepers to feed their bees. Unfortunately, the bees like it too! However, there are several strategies one can employ to discourage the bees from visiting one’s hummingbird feeder. And I suppose that if someone wants to leave their nectar solution out there in their feeders for an extended period, then products like Nectar Defender or Hummingbird Healthy might be useful. But until someone can demonstrate to me through a carefully designed scientific experiment that hummingbirds are either harmed or derive no benefit from 1-4 sugar/water solution that millions of North, Central and South Americans offer to them, hopefully in a fresh clean manner, then I see no real need for products that boast of being healthier for the birds, To me, it is rather like the debate over vitamin supplements for humans……some folks totally believe in them, some take them to hedge their bets, and some, like me, would rather just eat healthily than gobble down yet more pills and lighten my wallet. As a good friend of mine aptly recounted the words of his old nutrition professor, “the greatest concentration of vitamins in North America is the urine of North America.” I won’t go as far as to say that these hummer supplements are just a gimmick to take money out of people’s pockets, but I cannot help wondering at times if we haven’t gone too far with feeding the birds. Sort of like what we have done with our pets.
David M. Bird, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of Wildlife Biology, McGill University www.askprofessorbird.com
David M. Bird is Emeritus Professor of Wildlife Biology and the former Director of the Avian Science and Conservation Centre at McGill University. As a past-president of the Society of Canadian Ornithologists, a former board member with Birds Canada, a Fellow of both the American Ornithological Society and the International Ornithological Union, he has received several awards for his conservation and public education efforts. Dr. Bird is a regular columnist on birds for Bird Watcher’s Digest and Canadian Wildlife magazines and is the author of several books and over 200 peer-reviewed scientific publications. He is the consultant editor for multiple editions of DK Canada’s Birds of Canada, Birds of Eastern Canada, Birds of Western Canada, and Pocket Birds of Canada. To know more about him, visit www.askprofessorbird.com or email david.bird@mcgill.ca.
