Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff Lauren Vogelbaum.
Speaker 1: Here a hummingbird feeder can be a thrilling addition to
Speaker 1: any summertime yard. Hummingbirds are vibrant, acrobatic little flyers that
Speaker 1: evolved to eat a lot of natural nectar from flowers
Speaker 1: to fuel their insanely high metabolism. After all, during flight,
Speaker 1: they beat their wings an average of fifty times per second.
Speaker 1: Flowers should provide their primary caloric source, along with a
Speaker 1: few bugs that they pick off of leaves or snatch
Speaker 1: from midair to fill out their complement of nutrients. You
Speaker 1: can look up lists of native plants for your garden
Speaker 1: to help attract and feed hummingbirds, but you can also
Speaker 1: supplement their caloric needs by feeding hummingbirds with a well
Speaker 1: placed sugar water feeder. Today, let's talk about how to
Speaker 1: keep a hummingbird feeder that's both entertaining for you and
Speaker 1: good for the birds. Sugar Water feeders are nice gesture
Speaker 1: for your local hummingbirds. These vessels can help them get
Speaker 1: through the times of year when there aren't as many
Speaker 1: flowers around. However, since feeders are a huge draw for
Speaker 1: these tiny birds, it's extremely important to keep them clean
Speaker 1: and safe. Hummingbirds eat by lapping up liquid food at
Speaker 1: lightning speed, using a flexible tongue that's so long that
Speaker 1: it retracts in a coil that rests in their skull
Speaker 1: around their eyes. Hummingbirds are attracted to the color red
Speaker 1: because they associate red flowers with higher nutrient nectar. That's
Speaker 1: why many sugar water feeders are made with red plastic pieces,
Speaker 1: but this isn't a requirement, and red food coloring definitely
Speaker 1: should not be used in the sugar water. Unfortunately, hummingbird
Speaker 1: feeders are great places for bacteria and fungi to grow.
Speaker 1: Of course, microbial communities are everywhere the sugar water. Hummingbird
Speaker 1: feeders attract these same kinds of bacteria that you'd find
Speaker 1: in flowers, in addition to a few more varieties. Most
Speaker 1: won't cause disease in hummingbirds, but a small fraction of
Speaker 1: them have been associated with a disease called candidiasis, a
Speaker 1: fungal infection that's deadly in hummingbirds. It causes their tongue
Speaker 1: to swell, making it impossible for the bird to eat.
Speaker 1: But to prevent the possibility of spreading this disease through
Speaker 1: your hummingbird feeders. It's necessary to clean your feeders regularly
Speaker 1: with a non toxic cleaning product like weakened vinegar. Don't
Speaker 1: do this in your kitchen where human food is prepared.
Speaker 1: Birds can carry diseases that can make humans sick. Hummingbird
Speaker 1: feeders should be cleaned every three to five days, or
Speaker 1: more frequently in hot summer weather. Most feeders can be
Speaker 1: completely disassembled so that they can be thoroughly cleaned inside
Speaker 1: and out. Avoid using any kind of soaper detergent, though,
Speaker 1: as those can leave a harmful residue. Hummingbird feeders should
Speaker 1: contain only this homemade hummingbird food recipe, a mixture of
Speaker 1: four parts of water to one part of her fire
Speaker 1: white sugar. The sugar water should be boiled and then
Speaker 1: cooled before adding it to the feeder. Irregular tapwater, well water,
Speaker 1: or bottled spring water are all perfectly fine to use.
Speaker 1: Although hummingbird feeders are completely safe and even helpful for
Speaker 1: the birds, there are things that you definitely shouldn't do,
Speaker 1: many of which have been offered as well meaning advice
Speaker 1: in the past and since been scientifically disproven. So here
Speaker 1: are some pointers don't use distilled water to make the food,
Speaker 1: as it's stripped of natural minerals, and don't use water
Speaker 1: processed through a water softener, as water softeners can add
Speaker 1: certain salts and minerals that aren't good for the birds.
Speaker 1: Don't add red food, coloring, or dyve any kind to
Speaker 1: your recipe. It's not necessary to attract hummingbirds, and the
Speaker 1: chemicals in the dye aren't good for the birds. In fact,
Speaker 1: don't add anything to the water in your homemade nectar
Speaker 1: except for that granulated white sugar. So do not add honey,
Speaker 1: nor brown sugar, nor molasses, nor any sort of artificial sweetener.
Speaker 1: A When mixed with water, honey and molasses can create
Speaker 1: a breeding ground for potentially fatal bacteria and mold to grow. Again,
Speaker 1: the best hummingbird nectar recipe is just one part granulated
Speaker 1: white sugar mixed with four parts of clean water. Also,
Speaker 1: don't spend your money on commercial hummingbird nectars. Many of
Speaker 1: these concoctions contain preservatives, additives, and dyes that can harm
Speaker 1: the birds. Using your own safe and inexpensive nectar recipe
Speaker 1: means there's no reason to buy commercial ones. Finally, always
Speaker 1: place your clean hummingbird feeder in a shady spot, preferably
Speaker 1: in front of a windows that you can sit back
Speaker 1: and enjoy the show while feeding these amazing birds safely.
Speaker 1: Some hummingbirds do migrate, spending winters in warmer latitudes and
Speaker 1: heading back into cooler areas to breed in the spring.
Speaker 1: Research has shown that they can fly non stop for
Speaker 1: over one thousand miles some one thousand, four hundred miles
Speaker 1: to be slightly more exact, that's about two thousand, two
Speaker 1: hundred kilometers as the hummingbird flies. That's the equivalent of
Speaker 1: flying without a break from Atlanta to Albuquerque, from Beirut
Speaker 1: to Budapest, or from Tokyo to Taipei, to give you
Speaker 1: an idea to scale here. Full grown specimens of the
Speaker 1: ruby throated hummingbird usually measure about three inches that's nearly
Speaker 1: eight centimeters long, meaning that they can fly a mind
Speaker 1: boggling twenty nine million times the length of their body
Speaker 1: in one go. Relative to human body size. That'd be
Speaker 1: like Superman leaping into the air and taking one and
Speaker 1: a half trips around the globe before landing again. And
Speaker 1: the furthest migrating hummingbirds travel some three thousand, five hundred
Speaker 1: miles during each seasonal trip. That's about five thousand, six
Speaker 1: hundred kilometers. Today's have pisode is based on the article
Speaker 1: HOWD make Hummingbird food Safely and Responsively on HowStuffWorks dot com,
Speaker 1: written by Jesslinshields. Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in
Speaker 1: partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com. It's produced by Tyler Klang.
Speaker 1: Before more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.