Hummingbirds do not only consume nectar. Naturally, they love plant sap, small insects, and other elements. However, do they love fruit juices? Let’s understand it right below!
Hummingbirds like fruit juice as the juice is sweet, fills up with energy, can attract insects if kept in solid form along with the fruit. However, it is not good to feed juice as compared to nectar, sugar water as it can cause health issues, mainly acidity.
Do hummingbirds like fruit juice?
Fruit juice is a natural food source that many birds love. Like them, hummers like fruit juice especially from the overripe fruits. You can find them drinking fruit juice from trees in forests.
Fruit juice contains sugar
Hummingbirds have an affinity toward sweet things. They love nectar and sugar syrup. You can often see them hovering around flowers to drink their nectar. Also, they can come to your home if you hang feeders containing sugar solutions.
So, they love other sweet things too. All they need is sweet foods that give them the right sugar concentration in their bodies. Naturally, a hummer gets sugary food sources through nectar and fruits only. Fruit juices contain high sugar concentrations, especially the ripe ones. Thus, fruit juice is a favorite source of food among the hummers.
Fruit juice gives them energy
As already discussed, hummers love sugary items. Sugar gives them high energy which they need to maintain their rapid metabolism. So, hummers prefer sweet elements in their diet that can meet their high energy requirements.
Fruit juice is one such food source. It has a high concentration of sugar. So, the hummers can get high energy by consuming fruit juices. It makes hummingbirds love fruit juice from ripe fruits containing high concentrations of sugar.
Fruit juice has minerals
Do you know? Apart from vitamins, hummers need minerals to survive. The wild hummingbirds have many food sources that complete their mineral requirement. Fruit juices have high concentrations of minerals. They can provide the hummers with healthy body metabolism and sustained activities. Besides, fruit juice can help the hummers maintain their body vitals.
They find ripe fruits and drink their juice to get the essential minerals required to maintain healthy body metabolism. So, you can find many hummers pecking on fruits that are widely available in nature.
Pecked fruits have easily-available juice
Many birds love fruits and juices. They usually peck fruits but cannot consume them entirely. For example, a bird might peck mangoes, but cannot eat up the fruit wholly. So, the pecked fruit becomes a nourishing source of food for the hummers. They cannot pierce through the fruit skin to get the juice. So, pecked fruits give them access to juice easily.
Suppose, a hummer is hungry and doesn’t have access to flower nectar. They can find a pecked fruit and get the juice to meet their dietary requirement. It introduced hummingbirds to fruit juice and made them love it.
Fruits attract small insects
Organic fruits and juices are an invitation to small insects. You might have noticed small worms and crickets feeding on fruits and juices on trees. Fruits are an important constituent in an insect’s diet. So, fruits often attract insects and bring them in light for predators like hummingbirds.
Hummingbirds like small insects. Apart from fruits having sweet and sugary juice, they attract insects and help hummers satiate their protein requirement. So, many times, these birds can get wholesome food by consuming fruit juices and insects.
Natural fruit juice has vitamins and water
Hummingbirds need vitamins to survive. Apart from protein, minerals, and energy, they need vitamins to maintain their body vitals.
Also, fruit juice has lots of water. Hummers need water to thrive and stay hydrated throughout the day. So, you can give fruit juice to them and they will love it.
Now, you know that hummingbirds love fruit juice. Besides, you have understood why they love fruit juices.
However, you might be thinking, what type of fruit juices do they love? Don’t worry! We are here to help you and give answers.
What type of fruit juices do hummingbirds love?
Hummingbirds have an affinity for fruit juices. However, they don’t feed on all fruits. They like fruits with a high water and sugar concentration. They like pulpy fruits that give them the right energy to maintain their raging metabolism. So, it’s better to know what fruits they love and thrives upon.
Here’s a list:
- Prickly pear
- Pear
- Oranges
- Berries
- Apple
- Melons
- Mangoes
Is it safe to give them fruit juice?
It’s true that hummingbirds eat fruits and drink their juices. Naturally, they find many fruits and consume their pulp. However, should you give them fruit juice? Or, more precisely, should you replace nectar and give them fruit juices?
No, you shouldn’t! If the sugar content is kept aside, fruits have some harmful ingredients for the hummingbirds. Here are some reasons why you shouldn’t give fruit juice to hummingbirds.
1. Inorganically grown fruits can harm them
Inorganically fruits have high pesticide concentrations which can unknowingly harm the little creatures. So, if you don’t know whether the fruit is organic, it’s better not to give your hummers juices made out of market-bought fruits.
2. Market bought fruit juices have preservatives
You might think of giving the hummingbirds packaged fruit juices since they claim to use organic fruits. However, it can make your birds sick as they contain preservatives, food colors, and other chemicals.
3. Some fruit juices have acid
Do you know? Some fruits have high concentrations of acid. For example, cranberries contain heavy acid content which can harm the hummingbirds and might lead to fatal consequences. So, it’s better to keep fruits away from hummingbirds.
4. Fruit juice will attract bigger insects to your feeder
Bigger insects might visit your feeder if you give fruit juices to the hummingbirds. They can infect hummingbirds and contaminate your feeder. So, it’s better to keep fruit juices away from hummingbirds and their feeders.
5. Fruit juice can help fungus thrive
Fruit juices can promote the growth of fungus inside the feeder. It can lead to severe consequences in hummingbirds if fungus enters their bodies.
Conclusion
Fruit juice is a good source of sugar for hummingbirds. So, the birds love fruit juice. However, it’s better to give them sugar syrup and not fruit juice in feeders artificially.
