I was watching a ruby-throated hummingbird in my backyard. We have a couple hummingbird feeders plus some potted plants that we hope will attract them. I had only seen the hummingbird drink sugar water from the feeder and was thinking about how that compared as a food source to real nectar from a flower.

Then I started thinking about what hummingbirds feed their babies, do they regurgitate nectar? Do they eat insects?  Are both parents involved in feeding? I had been watching a male come to the feeder, fly away for a while and then come back and repeat - is he feeding himself or others? So many questions for such a diminutive bird.

Hummingbirds are one of those birds that you don’t have to be a birdwatcher to know and enjoy. You don’t need any expertise to identify the hummingbirds at your feeder in New England. I knew this was a ruby-throated hummingbird because, of the 13 species of hummingbird that breed in North America, this is the only species that breeds in Eastern North America.   

Is sugar water junk food? Flower nectar really is just sugar water, and research indicates that it is the fuel hummingbirds use to power their search for bugs — insects being their main source of protein, fat, vitamins and minerals. A typical hummingbird visiting as many as 1,000 to 2,000 flowers a day is also pulling spiders from their webs, plucking gnats out of the air and using their tongues' brushy tip to trap insects while lapping up nectar.

While nectar can have different types of sugars, ruby-throats seem to prefer nectars high in sucrose (table sugar). So far the research suggests that supplementing hummingbird diets with feeders is beneficial - but only if the stations are kept clean.  One rule of thumb I recently heard was to ask yourself if you’d drink that sugar water. 

I’ve mostly been watching the male hummingbird visit my feeder. He’s certainly busy, but he definitely isn’t bringing any food back to his babies. The female hummingbird does all the nest-building and child-raising. The males are there for courtship and mating and then are off. They often begin their migrations back to Central America before the females - as early as August.

I’ve been keeping records for quite some time and every year it is the same - the quince bloom and the hummingbirds come. Both males and females love those deep salmon-orange flowers. I have also read that ruby-throats will follow yellow-bellied sapsuckers north, slurping sap from the multitude of holes drilled by these woodpeckers.  

The females in my neighborhood have presumably begun building their nests somewhere close to flowers or feeders. Because females do all of the feeding, they tend to place their nests near readily available food sources so they have more time to stay on the nest.

I love envisioning the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s description of nest-building: “The nest is the size of a large thimble, built directly on top of the branch rather than in a fork. It’s made of thistle or dandelion down held together with strands of spider silk and sometimes pine resin. The female stamps on the base of the nest to stiffen it, but the walls remain pliable. She shapes the rim of the nest by pressing and smoothing it between her neck and chest. The exterior of the nest is decorated (probably camouflaged) with bits of lichen and moss. The nest takes six to 10 days to finish and measures about 2 inches across and 1 inch deep.” Thistledown and spiderwebs! With lichen camo! Doesn’t this sound like something out of a fairy tale?  

Once the eggs hatch, the young will initially be fed a combination of nectar and small insects, regurgitated by the mother. As they mature, she will feed them whole insects.  They’ll stay in the nest until almost grown, about 4 weeks. The breeding season in our area lasts from early June to late July, so babies are well on their way. The reason you don’t normally see baby hummingbirds is that they stay in the nest until almost full-grown.

Hummingbirds are so much fun to try to attract with colorful feeders and wildflowers or hanging plants. Just be careful. The feeders need to be cleaned and the sugar-water replaced every couple days at the most - the mold that can grow in them is thought to be harmful to the hummers. Be careful with your sugar source – I’ve heard different things about what types of sugars are OK, but to play it safe and use regular table sugar (4 parts of boiled water to 1 part sugar). Some of the unrefined sugars can have an unhealthy level of iron. Or plant flowers that they like. Ruby-throated hummingbirds are particularly attracted to tubular flowers like those of the honeysuckles (be careful - these can be invasive) and monarda. The evidence for whether they prefer red over other colors is open to debate (This could be a fun backyard experiment!). Make sure to place feeders or flowering plants in places where the hummingbird will be able to have a clear view of its surroundings, enabling it to see incoming predators (cats, jays and the like).   

So, plant those flowers and hang those feeders!  In addition to the jewel-like beauty of the males, the buzzy-ness of their wings and their incredible aeronautical displays, hummingbirds are important pollinators, vital to healthy ecosystems, and need to be welcomed as much as possible into our backyards. 

Susan Pike, a researcher and an environmental sciences and biology teacher at Dover High School, welcomes your ideas for future column topics. She is looking for readers to send her the signs of spring they're noticing so she can document them on her website pikes-hikes.com. Send your photos and observations to spike3116@gmail.com. Read more of her Nature News columns online at Seacoastonline.com and pikes-hikes.com, and follow her on Instagram @pikeshikes.