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Re: Hummingbird food
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu (CAROLINA BIRDS)
- Subject: Re: Hummingbird food
- From: BILL HILTON JR Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History<hilton@hiltonpond.org>
- Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2001 12:58:19 -0400
- In-reply-to: <3B5EF355.2DB0143D@mail.fpg.unc.edu>
- References: <3B5EF355.2DB0143D@mail.fpg.unc.edu>
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
>Is there any difference in quality for hummingbird clear nectar mixes
>between a sucrose and dextrose combination vs 100% sucrose? Thanks for
>any information.
>
>Marsha Stephens
>Chatham County, NC
>stephens@mail.fpg.unc.edu
*********
MARSHA . . .
Virtually every hummingbird expert agrees that for summer feeding the
best (and cheapest) hummingbird mix is plain old table sugar mixed
4:1 water:sugar. You can even cut back to 5:1 or 6:1 and save a
little money.
Commercial mixes that make a big deal of adding vitamins, other
sugars, etc., are just a way to make you feel guilty enough to pay
ten times more for what you can buy off the shelf at Bi-Lo or Food
Lion. The only thing most commercial mixes really offer is
convenience.
Our feeders are just supplementary food sources. Hummers get all the
additional nutrients--or other sugars--they need from flower nectar
and tiny insects.
Cheers,
BILL
--
BILL HILTON JR., "The Piedmont Naturalist"
Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History
1432 DeVinney Road, York, South Carolina 29745 USA
hilton@hiltonpond.org, (803) 684-5852, eFax: (503) 218-0845
Please visit our web sites at http://www.hiltonpond.org and
http://www.rubythroat.org
"Never trust a person too lazy to get up for sunrise or too busy to
watch the sunset." BHjr.