|
WHAT'S IMPORTANT TO KNOW ABOUT HUMMINGBIRD FEEDERS by Jon Friedman This is a revised and expanded version of an article that was first published in |
|
Introduction Overall considerations
Size/capacity of feeders Design types: Pan or vacuum Pan type Ant barriers Secondly, the built-in ant barriers are designed to allow rainwater to pass through the feeder without diluting the nectar contained within. They are designed to allow a small amount of water to fill the bottom of the ant barrier to help keep insects under control. However, once the amount of water inside the barrier exceeds its normal capacity, excess water is channeled through the feeder and empties from the bottom. The Wild Bird Store manufactures and sells an ant barrier that is constructed from recycled materials (35mm film canister and solid copper wire) for gravity-fed feeders. They have two hooks built into their design (one above the barrier and one below) so that the ant barrier can be connected to any hanging hook and the feeder itself is suspended underneath the barrier. Filled and installed properly, they are 100% effective in preventing ants and other crawling bugs from gaining access to the feeder. Pole-mountable Vacuum type Materials used in feeder manufacture UV stable Polycarbonate. The best of the pan type feeders all offer good guarantees, some even lifetime guarantees. How can a manufacturer offer such a guarantee in this day and age when most products on the market are designed for relatively short life spans, use lesser quality materials, and therefore need to be replaced often? These better quality pan type feeders are constructed of clear, durable, UV-stable polycarbonate – the strongest, most optically clear plastic on the market. The UV stabilizers perform two functions. They prevent the damaging rays of sunlight from degrading the quality of the material and enable that material to last many, many years – even in the strong, punishing Arizona sunlight. The second function is to delay the sun’s rays from spoiling the nectar too quickly. It acts like a filtering agent and prevents the UV rays from penetrating the nectar. This material is commonly used in optical lens of every sort: microscopes, telescopes, spotting scopes, binoculars, and even eyeglasses. The “bullet-proof glass” that separates you from the teller at banks is actually polycarbonate. This material is stronger than glass, more scratch-proof, practically unbreakable, and, when used as a lens, is finely ground and polished until its overall qualities are superior to glass. It also weighs just a fraction of what glass weighs. The metal hangers used in pan feeders are also superior metal: stainless steel or solid brass. Feeders made to such high standards are clearly superior to other materials, outlast any other materials, and are UV-stable, and therefore the manufacturers are not hesitant to offer lifetime guarantees. They may cost a little more than most other feeders on the market but they have been the most popular hummingbird feeders we have sold for almost twenty-five years. They are popular with our customers for other reasons, too. They are the easiest feeders to maintain. Cleaning and refilling them is simpler than with gravity-fed models, which require properly sized bottle brushes. UV-stable polycarbonate is tough enough to go on the top shelf of your kitchen dishwasher. Even though the highest quality of these pan type feeders usually costs a little more to purchase, the lifetime guarantee ensures it’s a one-time purchase – therefore a more cost-effective purchase. Lesser quality feeders need to be replaced more often and the repeated cost of buying cheap feeders proves more expensive in the long run. And let’s not forget to consider the advantages these feeders offer the hummingbirds that use them. Hummingbirds, given the choice, will more often choose fresh nectar from pan feeders, as they help conserve the hummer’s energy by offering it a built-in perch while drinking. Without a perch they can use about as much energy by hovering above the food ports….as what?. By providing a perch, the balance of energy expended is certainly in the hummingbird’s favor. Another important aspect to consider is that the perched hummingbird has a clear 360-degree view from the vantage point of any food port. This enables the hummingbirds to survey the surrounding area while keeping a sharp eye out for competitors and predators. With bottle feeders, they take a sip of nectar and fly backwards and upwards to gain the same perspective since their view at port-level is obstructed by the nectar bottle. This also forces the hummingbirds to expend more energy than necessary. Excess energy expenditure can quickly put the hummingbird into a dangerous situation. They simply feel more secure and safer using the pan feeders. Glass. Some of the least expensive and some of the most expensive feeders are constructed from glass. Less expensive glass is cast and usually clear while the more expensive glass is hand-blown. Hand-blown glass can be clear but more often is brightly colored and more decorative as a result. Both types of glass have their vulnerabilities. Both can be damaged or broken unless handled very carefully. Hand-blown glass feeders tend to be the most expensive on the market. They are almost always gravity fed, often with a tube and stopper to deliver the nectar. Most manufacturers are more concerned with the visual appearance, i.e. they are trying to make a beautiful looking feeder, than with making a practical feeder. Consequently, their poor design invites the leaking and dripping that are inevitable with most feeders that fit this description. The Wild Bird Store created a line of colorful glass hummingbird feeders that do have tube and stopper feeders, but we’ve taken into account the problems other feeders of this sort have and designed them so that they don’t leak and spill and therefore don’t attract bees and wasps.
I have never encountered or heard about glass feeders that have UV stabilizers in the glass. If glass hummingbird feeders are installed in direct sunlight, especially in the extra hot afternoon Arizona sun, they need to have the nectar changed more frequently than every 3 days. They should be located in a place where they get full, dense shade – especially during the afternoons in our hotter weather. Glass feeders are not as easy or quick to maintain and clean. They always require the right size bottle brush to effectively clean them. Ceramic. Mass produced, inexpensive ceramic feeders should be avoided as they are fraught with an array of problems. Hand-built ceramic feeders usually are better designed and constructed than mass manufactured feeders. They have many of the qualities of glass but will protect the nectar from fermentation as quickly as glass [this doesn’t make any sense] due to the fact they are opaque. Ceramic material is usually thicker than glass so they tend to be less fragile, but could break if dropped or banged around. Glass has an additional advantage over ceramic in that glass is transparent and allows viewing the nectar while ceramic has to be checked more carefully as you can’t see the amount left in the feeder. Like glass feeders, ceramic feeders usually require a bottle brush to insure proper cleaning. Hand-crafted ceramic feeders tend to be more expensive than others, but they usually have more eye appeal.
Plastic. There are many varieties of plastic available on the commercial market. The best plastic worth considering is UV-stable polycarbonate. There are only a few plastics that will hold up to our extreme weather, especially our exceptionally damaging sunlight. The Wild Bird Store features the polycarbonate feeders as the most durable, longest lived, and best value. We do stock several models that use other types of plastic and we know they will hold up for several years. They are made with exceptionally thick plastic material. The styrene and polypropylene plastics are better than all other plastics, except the polycarbonates. All other plastics are extremely short-lived and neither cost effective nor practical. As they are almost always gravity-fed, they typically have all the problems associated with the worst hummingbird feeder designs. These are the common and familiar feeders found in discount stores, big box stores, franchises, and chain stores. You probably have seen these same feeders in supermarkets and hardware stores. Perky Pet and Opus brands tend to dominate the low quality and low cost end of the market. Both of these lines are manufactured in China. When people complain about these low end, low cost feeders I remind them that, in most instances, you get what you pay for. This is probably true no matter what item you purchase. It is more cost-effective to buy a higher quality product once, knowing that it gives many years of service and satisfaction, than to pay a little less for a lower quality product that needs to be replaced every so often and can be problematic in its everyday use. Metals. Occasionally someone brings in a feeder made of metal that they are experiencing problems with. It was either a hand-crafted model, typically bought at a craft/street fair, or it came from one of the larger discount stores. Most hummingbird feeders will have some metal in the design, but usually the metal parts serve as the hanger or perch. Feeders that are designed so that the nectar is in contact with metal should be avoided. In such cases, the metal will corrode over time and spoil or taint the nectar. They are much harder to keep clean and bacteria-free. Window Hummingbird Feeders. Window feeders can be either pan or vacuum type feeders that attach to glass with UV stable suction cups. We carry several models from companies that we feel offer the best quality products. Not only are the cups protected from the damaging rays of the sun but the feeders themselves are usually UV-stable polycarbonate, the single best material a manufacturer can use. In addition to models ready to install on windows, we also stock UV-stable polycarbonate window brackets. These brackets have the highest quality suction cups and are designed to hold up to five pounds. Virtually every hummingbird feeder, even when filled to capacity, will weigh considerably less than that. So if you have, or want, a model that is not designed to be installed directly onto the window, you can combine any model with one of the window brackets and turn any model into a window model in this way.
Recommended Feeders Pan feeders. The highest quality pan feeders are made of UV-stable polycarbonate or acrylic material. Our favorite line of feeders to offer customers are those models designed and manufactured by Aspects, in Warren, Rhode Island. Simply put, we believe they are the best on the market and offer the humans who own them and the birds that use them the best of everything with no known drawbacks. All their models come with an unconditional lifetime guarantee. We also stock some of the Droll Yankee feeders (made in Connecticut) and models from Bird’s Choice (made in Wisconsin). We stock both the Aspects window model, called the Jewel Box, and a couple of window models from Bird’s Choice. Both companies offer pan type window feeders.
Vacuum or gravity fed feeders. Dr. J.B.’s line of hummingbird feeders are, we believe, the best of this type of feeder. They are manufactured in Mexico, Missouri by Songbird Essentials. They feature extra thick and extremely durable patented plastic material, both for the base and the clear nectar reservoir. The bases are exactly the same bases on all models, so they are easily interchangeable. They come in 16-, 32-, 48-, and 80-ounce capacities. These feeders are also the best for feeding our migrant nectar-eating bats. They have tiny food ports for use by hummers during the day and those same food ports can easily be removed for use by bats in the evening. Glass feeders. The Hummingbird Lantern feeder, by Gary Schrodt of Ashville, Oregon has long proved to be among the more popular glass feeders we offer. Constructed with a ruby red Italian wine bottle as the nectar reservoir and sandwiched between a recycled redwood top and base, this feeder offers a practical and functional vessel for hummingbirds to use and is among the most visually pleasing and beautiful feeders we offer. The Wild Bird Store is the only authorized source for the popular Webster Feeder. This is an accurate reproduction of the first hummingbird feeder made by humans for the sole intended use by hummingbirds. It was introduced to the market in 1928 and today’s version looks remarkably similar in design and size. We have recently introduced a fancier, more colorful model for our contemporary era. They are made exclusively, in Tucson, for The Wild Bird Store by well-known glass artist John Mims. For several years we have been creating our own line of colorful, glass bottle feeders. These feeders come in a variety of sizes and colors, are made from 99% recycled Spanish glass, and feature hand-wrapped solid copper wire tendrils that act as a holder for the feeders. They feature tube and stopper food ports that are drip-free and bee-proof. They are made by and for the Wild Bird Store exclusively.
The Garden Jewel hummingbird feeder, by Opus, has been on the market for decades. About the size of a goose egg, it has a ten ounce capacity. It is one of the few products we sell that is made in China. About average in performance, it has no really outstanding features other than its familiarity to generations of folks who have used it. It is a lower cost model and therefore needs more protection than most feeders. Dr. J.B.’s 16ounce model is the smallest capacity model they offer and the only one with a glass nectar reservoir. Best 1 hummingbird feeders, made in Texas, had been a staple in our inventory for almost 25 years. We’ve sold many thousands of their 8- and 32-ounce models. However, we decided to no longer carry their line of products, beginning about a year ago or so. While they were among the handful of vacuum type feeders that were relatively low cost and relatively problem-free, the quality of their products took a noticeable downturn in recent times. Customers began complaining and returning their Best 1 models and the replacements were still plagued with the same problems. We no longer stock this brand for this reason. We stand behind the products we sell and we prefer to not sell products with potential problems. Even after the owner assured us the problems were addressed and corrected, and these feeders have generally had a reputation for providing years of trouble-free use, we had to regretfully delete them from our inventory. If you still own and operate a Best 1 feeder, and it was bought more than 18 months ago, there’s a good chance it will continue to serve your hummingbirds for years to come. They usually perform well for at least a decade. But we no longer carry the feeders or replacement parts. Additional tips about hummingbirds and hummingbird feeders
|
What's Important to Know About Hummingbird Feeders
We are now well into our third decade of serving our customers and informing our readers about the birds they want to attract to their backyard feeding stations. This article will serve as a basic, concise yet comprehensive review of what makes a good hummingbird feeder. We believe the more you know, the better your selection will fit both your considerations and those of the hummingbirds you can attract. Suffice it to say, the liquid solution you provide the hummer should be the most important decision and we strongly encourage those who attract and feed hummers to use and follow the instructions printed on the label of the nectar we manufacture and sell as opposed to any commercial nectar or any homemade sugar water solution. Never use a liquid solution that is not clear as water. The addition of coloring, particularly red food color, is now understood to be potentially harmful to hummers, even enough to shorten their already short lifespans. If you have any doubt as to what to provide your hummingbirds, always err in favor of the birds. We believe this is the first, and most important, decision to make if you are feeding hummingbirds in a beneficial way that causes no harm.
Vacuum type feeders are commonly referred to as gravity-fed feeders. They all feature a nectar reservoir, usually a bottle of some sort, which is screwed into the center of the base of the feeder. Once inverted and placed into position the nectar is simply fed into the base (where the food ports are located) by gravity. The base is carefully designed to provide a vacuum of air, a simple airspace of no less than half an inch between the underside of the food port and the surface of the nectar level, to prevent leaking and attracting bees and wasps to the feeder. It’s designed to be self-regulating and will operate without problems as long as the vacuum remains intact. This is where this design proves secondary to the pan type feeders. The vacuum can be disturbed or even lost for a variety of reasons. The most probable causes of vacuum loss occur as a result of the feeder being blown around in wind gusts, large birds or other animals trying to use the feeder, daytime/nighttime temperature swings of 40 degrees or more, or quick barometric swings such as before and after storms. If the vacuum is lost, for whatever reason, the feeder can develop a slow leak or a steady leak which can attract bees, wasps, other insects, and even birds that would not otherwise be able to access the nectar. Most people who comment that woodpeckers drain their feeders have gravity-fed feeders. Pan type feeders, especially those that have nectar guard tips installed, rarely have any such problems. Vacuums can be reset after washing off nectar on the outside of the feeder and rehanging the feeder. Many folks start with vacuum feeders as their initial feeder but switch over to pan feeders as they are easier to clean and refill, and they don’t have the problems associated with gravity-fed feeders.
Holland Hill glass vial feeders are favorites for hummers, particularly with optional perches installed. They come in a variety of styles featuring single, double, triple, five- and eight-tube feeders. They come as window or hanging models. Additionally, they offer a Hummingbird Wand feeder. This model has a built-in hook for hanging but can also be used as a hand-held feeder. It comes with a built-in perch. Each of the models features a small glass vial that slips into a copper tendril holder. Made in Mexico, Missouri by Songbird Essentials.← Older Post Newer Post →