Is sugar water good for the birds?
Q: I regularly feed the hummingbirds at my cottage with a sugar-water solution. I am wondering if it is junk food for them. Is it better for them to get the natural nutrients from flower nectars?—CASEY NOLIS, VIA EMAIL
A: Well, adding native plants to your cottage property is always a win, and hummingbirds do love them some brightly coloured blooms. Examples include trumpet vines, scarlet runner beans, and lilies.
But, “we don’t know that nectar is than sugar water,” says Cindy Cartwright of Hummingbirds Canada. Assuming that you’re filling these feeders with the appropriate one part sugar, four parts water mixture, and using plain white table sugar (not, say, brown sugar, raw sugar, molasses, or Splenda), you’re providing a useful food source. “Table sugar is very, very close to the type of sugar that the hummingbirds get from flowers,” says Cartwright. You’re substituting an apple with another kind
