How much cold can a hummingbird take? I am asking this because my mother is worried about the five or six of them that are here around our house. It has started to snowing a little bit at the moment. Plus it is suppose to get down below freezing tonight. Is there anything we need to do?
Thanks,
Clayton
Hummer Question
Clayton I really don't know. I do know this is being discussed on another Hummingbird Forum that I am a member of. I night or two of the colder weather should not be a problem. I do hope that tonight will be our last night of really cold. We are supposed to be about 33 degrees. I am praying that it will not get that low.
At 6:30 this morning it was in the 30's and I had a little fella at my feeder. It has warmed up today and that feeder as well as flowers have been visited all day.
Clayton-
I live in New Jersey and winter before last had Hummers around until the second week in Dec. Took the feeders in at night to keep them from freezing and put them back out in the morning. The following spring Hummers were back so now I leave the feeders out until the juice stops going down no matter how cold it gets.
I put them out already Mar 15 but still am waiting for this years return.
Good luck,
Susan
Here is some pictures I just took. The white specks is snow.
Here is another picture
Nice pics Clayton but I sure feel bad for him.
quagbe, Is your town close to the shore? I think my last sight date last year was beginning of November.
No, I not close to shore. I am in the Heart of Texas The hummer have been back about a month now. The weather people here are saying to expect one to three inches of snow .
Sorry Clayton, I was asking Susan (quagbe).
But wow your getting snow?
Yes we are getting snow, here is a picture I took of our car
Here are somemore pictures of our little hummers.
Oh, s/he looks c-c-c-cold!
I wonder, for those with hummers just arriving, especially in the cold.... do you think it would be a good idea to increase the sugar in their nectar, maybe use a 3 to 1 ratio rather than 4 parts water to 1 part sugar? It seems to me somebody posted about doing that during the fall migration.... ??
here is another
The feeder I have been takening pictures of with the hummers I just put somemore food in it this morning. I made it a little bit sweeter or stronger than it said to. I thought of the same thing.
Hope your little hummingbird is fine; we had one stay the whole winter in our yard (Anna's hummingbird stay for the winter here). He rarely left the apple tree with the feeder; and chased off any other hummers that came near it. He would sit there even in the snow, I wish I could've knitted a little sweater for him! Anyway, he was fine and made it through the cold.
I believe most hummers can go into what is called torpor, which helps them survive cold temps during the night. Here's a quick explanation of what happens: http://research.amnh.org/users/nyneve/hummingbirds.html
Though we don't get snow, our hummers did fine during temps in the 20s in January.
Clayton is there any particular reason you use red dye in your feeders?
All the hummer did fine. We saw them the very next morning. Mimidi, the only reason there is red dye in the feeder is that it was in the mix of hummingbird food already. Last year I did find some that did not have the dye in it, but I haven't found any without the dye in it so far this year.
The local bee keepers at a meeting I attended said that they liked for folks to use red dye in hummingbird feeders when the bees were making honey that is to be harvested. Said that if the dye is used then the keepers can know not to extract that honey for market. I didn't understand all the details but now each spring, I use the hummingbird nectar that comes packed with new feeders one purchases or finds for pennies at yard sales. Don't know if I will be adding red dye however.
As to the cold, we have had 4 nights below freezing, got down to 21--a record low for the date. The hummers are here. Watched my feeders today and didn't see any activity but hopefully I just missed him. Hoping for the best but fearing the worst...
Last year in this forum I saw several who had hummers in very cold places such as Alaska... They said their biggest problem was keeping the nectar thawed. Hummingbirds have very good radiators it seems, they can take the cold pretty well overall. Mainly requiring the warmer climates for nesting time.
Deb
I also was surprised to see a hummingbird on my John Clayton honeysuckle. Good thing it withstood the freezing temps of a few days ago. I hope he finds some nice warm foliage in the woods to snuggle up in.
I thought they migrated and would not be back until late spring or early summer.
Now I suspect I will have to fill the hummingbird feeders and put some fluffy fur on the perch for him. LOL