Hummingbird feeders don't have to be red

Red is not the essential color for your hummingbird feeder.

Research has shown that the birds have no innate preference for red. They see other colors just as well. A yellow or blue feeder would be fine (if you could find one).

But red helps because red is easy to see. The bird awakens hungry, and looks for food. If the bird's opening choice for the day is a red feeder that satisfies its hunger, its location will be logged, making return visits more likely.

Hummingbirds have excellent memory for food sources — feeders or flowers.

"Birds may learn and remember locations of rewarding food sources, according to the ruby-throated hummingbird biography detailing biology and behavior published by the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU).

"There is no evidence that (this species) strongly prefers any particular color; instead, they prefer certain feeder locations," the AOU bio continues.

Choice of a particular flower or a feeder is based on the energy that the bird finds.

Hummingbirds are very sensitive to nectar quantity and quality, the booklet says. They can distinguish between a fresh flower and one that is a second-day bloom.

It is suggested, the AOU says, "that ruby-throated hummingbirds respond to subtle visual clues, but the main factor in flower choice is reward."

Glenn Bartley and Andy Swash, both authors of and artists for the new book "Hummingbirds: A Celebration of Nature's Jewels" (Birdlife International and Princeton University Press, 2022), have similar opinions.

" … It seems likely that hummingbirds use their color vision to find flowers, and that red flowers seem to be particularly favored as they are most easily visible against a background of green," they write in their book.

"For this reason many hummingbird feeders are colored red. Studies undertaken to try to establish whether hummingbirds have a color preference have, however, reached very different conclusions.

"Even the most sophisticated studies have been unable to document (a difference) between real preferences and memory. It may simply be that red, as it stands out, is recognized as a good source of food, and that, once a red 'flower' is found, hummingbirds simply become conditioned to feeding from it," they conclude.

So, to put your feeder — red, right? — in the bird's eye and secure it in the bird's memory, what might you do?

Sheri Williamson, author of "A Field Guide to Hummingbirds and Attracting and Feeding Hummingbirds" tells us that 'instant nectar' products containing artificial coloring "are at best a waste of money and at worst a source of disease, suffering, and premature death in hummingbirds."

(That new hummingbird book from Princeton, by the way, is informative, interesting and illustrated with many wonderful color photos on large-format pages.)

Lifelong birder Jim Williams can be reached at woodduck38@gmail.com.

Hummer distribution

There are 136 species of hummingbirds native to Ecuador. Peru has 132. The United States has 14. Minnesota has one. Five other species have been recorded here as rare visitors — Anna's, calliope, Costa's, Rivoli's and rufous.