I have often wondered, especially when I see hummers swarming around feeders in Costa Rica and Ecuador like pigs at the trough all day long, what long-term effects these feeders have on hummingbirds and their food plants. Recently, a local high school student and I did a small study and submitted a paper reporting that artificial colors are not necessary to attract hummingbirds. Here is our last paragraph:
"This study should also open the conversationon the utility of hummingbird feeders generally. Feeders are known to have influencedthe evolution of beak sizes and the geographic ranges of hummingbirds (Greig etal. 2017, Alexandre et al. 2025) and the pollination of locallyoccurring wildflowers (McCaffrey and Wethington 2008). We urge ecologists to further investigate theoverall effects of hummingbird feeders on the birds and the ecosystems they inhabit."
Just some food for thought....KannanFt. Smith On Saturday 13 September, 2025 at 08:20:09 am GMT-5, Kay Hodnett <sallyportk...> wrote:
I still have a male (bit of a bully) and a female and a third undetermined. How do I put heater in feeder?
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