Birding experts discuss what do hummingbirds eat—and how often they eat it. A hummingbird's diet includes more foods than you may think!
If you want to attract these majestic fliers, you need to know what foods hummingbirds eat. Hummingbirds consume a variety of foods in their diet.
Foods in a Hummingbird’s Diet
Roger Emerick of South Glastonbury, Connecticut, asks, “Should I add anything to the sugar water for my hummingbirds to make it more nutritious?”
Birding experts Kenn and Kimberly Kaufman say, “Hummingbirds drink nectar and sugar water for energy. When you’re feeding them pure sugar water, there’s no need to put in additives. These birds forage at other sources besides feeders, getting plenty of nutrition from eating small insects like flies and gnats. They even eat small spiders. And hummingbirds are so resourceful that they often forage for insects in the sap wells drilled in trees by sapsuckers.”
Editor’s note: When you’re feeding them at your hummingbird feeder, there’s no need to put in red dye.
Grow Nectar Flowers to Support Hummingbirds
Nectar-rich tubular flowers are another way for backyard birders to lure hummingbirds to eat in your backyard. Bee balm, salvia, coral honeysuckle and fuchsia are popular flowers with hummingbirds, offering the vibrant colors they love and easy access to nectar.
However, the sweet stuff covers just one dietary need. Hummingbirds forage for other food sources besides flowers and feeders.
Do Hummingbirds Eat Mosquitoes?
Hummingbirds also require protein to survive. They get their fill of it by eating small insects like fruit flies, mosquitoes and gnats. They eat spiders, too. Multiple food sources like sugar water, flowers and bugs are especially important as baby hummingbirds seek nutrition and prepare for fall migration.
Like many other hummingbirds, Anna’s eat insects like midges and leaf hoppers. The high-protein diet might help them tolerate colder conditions in gardens, parks and streamside areas all along the West Coast year-round. Allen’s hummingbirds pluck bugs and spiders off spiderwebs.
How Often Do Hummingbirds Eat?
Because they constantly burn energy while on the move, hummingbirds may eat up to three times their body weight in a day. To find that much nectar, one bird might visit hundreds of flowers per day. This is why a hummingbird-friendly backyard is so important.
Anusha Shankar, a postdoctoral fellow conducting research at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, explains why these birds are always eating. She says, “Hummingbirds need to eat constantly because they use up energy very quickly. If we had their metabolic rate, we’d need to eat 300 hamburgers a day to survive!”
How Much Do Hummingbirds Eat?
“I use about a gallon of sugar water a day. Is it possible to determine how many hummingbirds I feed by the amount of sugar water they drink in a day?” asks reader Marge Kaufman of Sigel, Illinois.
Kenn and Kimberly say, “According to lab studies, the amount of sugar water consumed by a hummingbird will vary depending on the richness of the sugar concentration. With the typical 4:1 ratio of water to sugar, a ruby-throat probably won’t drink more than about 2 fluid ounces per day. A gallon of sugar water could feed about 60 hummingbirds in a day! The actual number of individuals could be even higher if some are just stopping briefly, or it could be lower if some of the sugar water is being lost to evaporation, dripping, insects, etc. It’s tricky to come up with solid numbers, but it’s still fun to ponder how many hummers might be out there.”
About the Experts
Kenn and Kimberly Kaufman are the official bird experts for Birds & Blooms. They are the creators of the Kaufman Field Guide series and they lead birding trips all over the world.
