Recent medical research suggests common food dye can cause inflammatory bowel issues in animals and humans, among other things. Food coloring may seem harmless, but it’s closely linked to health issues for all sorts of animals. Using Food Coloring To Attract HummingbirdsĪnother rookie mistake that can hurt your hummingbirds is using food dye to attract them. If you’ve got a little free time, you can also plant some hummingbird-friendly plants in your garden, backyard, or front yard. Steer clear of the following ingredients: You’ll just cause hummingbirds to eat what they shouldn’t or avoid your feeder entirely. You won’t win any points for getting creative with what you stock in your bird feeder. You don’t need to get fancy with your hummingbird feed – refined white sugar and clean water are more than enough. While we’re on the subject of sugar water, let’s talk about using the right kind of sugar. Using the Wrong Kind of Sugar in Your Feeder Using too little sugar may be unappealing to a hummingbird, while too much sugar will make the mixture syrupy. You could also do a half cup of white sugar to four half cups of water. The great thing about this recipe? You can easily adapt it no matter how many feeders you have.įor example, you can do one cup of white sugar with four parts water. Let’s start off the list with one of the most well-known beginner (and intermediate) birding mistakes – not creating the right sugar water! The right ratio can be tricky to get correct, but it’ll become second nature with practice.Ī reliable metric you can use is one part sugar to four parts water. Less common mistakes you should still be aware of are using food dye to color the food as well as leaving your feeder out during cold nights.

Other pretty common mistakes include using the wrong materials to wash the feeder as well as putting the feeder in less compatible locations, such as too close to windows.The most common mistake is the wrong sugar-to-water ratio, using the wrong ingredients, and letting this food go to waste with accidental spoilage.My guide below will cover the whole spectrum of well-known and lesser-known mistakes in hummingbird feeding. If you’re not careful, you could even end up making your hummingbird visitors sick! While you may know of common issues like not cleaning your feeder or using the wrong feed, other mistakes may elude you. Fortunately, these mistakes are easy to avoid with a little practice. Hummingbird feeding mistakes mean the difference between a bountiful birding session and a sad, quiet backyard.

Bird feeder stand alone