Adding food color to sugar water for hummingbirds is highly common. However, you might prefer using the food colors you already have for their nectar. So, if you have a blue color, should you use it in their food? Or, more precisely, will hummingbirds come to your feeder if you give them blue sugar water.
Does the color of hummingbird nectar matter?
Experiments show that hummingbirds are susceptible to colors. They use their eyesight to see colors and map them with food, dangers, and other environmental aspects.
For ages, hummingbirds have fed on flower nectar. So, they have developed the ability to map the flowers producing the sweetest or highest content of nectar with their colors. Furthermore, several factors may have a role in determining color choices. The sweetness of nectar-producing plants varies greatly depending on the species. The season in which the plants mature could be a role. Another factor for particular preferences could be the elevation of those plants.
The regional distribution of specific flower species is important. The position of flowers on a plant has an impact on the outcome, and some flowers change color with the seasons. Researchers discovered that in some situations, a specific perch appeared to be more crucial than the flower’s color, implying that location may trump color.
Since hummingbirds are so serious with colors, we must use the right colors at the best places to attract the birdies. So, yes, the color of hummingbird nectar matters to the hummingbirds. If you believe in creating a natural calling mechanism for hummingbirds, it will be great to add a few drops of food coloring into their nectar, especially if you are installing a new feeder on your property.
What color sugary liquid do hummingbirds prefer?
Nectar-producing flowers can be found on every continent. Any single flower color may predominate in most locations across the world, in combination with a wide range of various secondary hues. Red appears to be the most common hue among nectar-producing flowers in the western United States.
As a result, the majority of hummingbird color preferences study have taken place in the United States and Mexico. Furthermore, the findings dispute the widely held belief that these birds always prefer red to all other colors.
By 1950, a group of researchers (Lyerly, Riess, and Ross) had pointed out that the belief that hummingbirds in the American west preferred red flowers appeared to be based on the fact that red flowers predominated in the region, and that experimental evidence contradicted this belief and failed to show such a preference.
Yellow proved to be the least favored flower hue for hummingbirds, according to the findings of various color experiments. Bees, rather than hummingbirds, seemed to prefer the yellow blossoms. The majority of hummingbird trials, both in the wild and in captivity, suggested that they visited colors other than yellow almost equally.
So, hummingbirds have an affinity for bright colors like red, orange, and a blend of these colors. Since flowers of these colors have the sweetest nectar in high quantities, they will admire your nectar if it contains a tinge of these shades.
Because most hummingbirds connect red flowers with the tastiest nectar, placing red nectar in their feeder near them is like putting up a flashing “Eat Here” sign. They both have a greater understanding of what it means and that it refers to food. However, they do not rely on color to determine where to locate nectar and will visit any color feeder with a similar frequency, as far as anyone has found in investigations thus far. So, even if you buy a hummingbird feeder in a different hue, they’ll use it.
Do Hummingbirds Drink Blue Sugar Water?
Hummingbirds have four different types of color cones in their eyes, allowing them to see colors that we can only imagine! Hummingbirds can see non-spectral hues in the near UV, such as UV+red, UV+green, UV+yellow, and UV+purple. Hummingbirds have been demonstrated to have heightened sensitivity to the red and yellow ends of the color spectrum, but they’re also drawn to colors that humans can only conceive.
Now that you know the range of colors that hummingbirds can perceive, don’t be afraid to experiment with new sugar liquid colors to attract and keep the birds in your yard. As a result, you may make your nectar bright blue and they will happily drink it.
Hummingbirds do drink blue sugar water and there is no research for or against it. Blue sugar water can be made it as a habit. However, it is good to avoid mixing artificial colors and provide more natural food.
What is a hummingbird’s favorite color?
The majority of people assume that hummingbirds are only or mostly drawn to the color red. That’s why red is the most frequent color for hummingbird feeders, and why nectar for feeders was traditionally dyed with a red tint. Hummingbirds can be attracted in a variety of ways and hues.
Hummingbirds have enhanced color vision, which allows them to find food in their environment, communicate with colorful mates, negotiate terrain and avoid predators more easily than other animals. According to scientists, they can also see UV colors.
Warm colors like red, orange, and yellow are thought to be enhanced by the ability to see UV light, therefore red and other warm colors are likely to stand out more to them than other hues.
It’s not just red, though! Hummingbirds are adaptable creatures. They tend towards red in areas where nectar-containing flowers are the most abundant color. Hummingbirds, on the other hand, do the same thing in Brazil, where the region’s sweetest flower is a drab brown, and in Mexico, where purple or blue flowers bloom with the sweetest nectar. As a result, blue, brown, or green might signal food to a hummingbird in the correct environment, and so be more appealing.
Conclusion
Although there’s no harm in mixing blue food coloring in their food, hummingbirds might not vigorously visit your feeder as they do with feeders having red sugar water.
However, hummers are clever. They remember colors with a sweet surprise. So, they will drink your nectar without hesitation once they map the blue color with sweetness and energy.
