mogul
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: On
|
Thought some people may find this interesting from a local bird rehab person:
Hummingbirds do go into torpor for the night, but also during the day, in between feedings, if their energy supplies are insufficient to keep them warm enough to forage for their protein sources, insects. Studies have shown that Annas can survive 10 days without protein, however, I don't think that was winter weather. Supposedly, one can tell a sleeping Annas from a torpid one by watching for visible signs of breathing (chest movement), sleepers will have normal rates of breathing, torpid down to 50 breaths a minute.
Torpor shuts down the metabolism, lowers the body temp significantly, and suspends breathing for periods (up to 5 minutes). Birds that must go into torpor from lack of food or body fat miss out on foraging for the proteins they need to really survive longer than a few days. Annas are estimated to need 38 mg of protein a day, which is estimated to be 38 flies. Birds that consume a lot of fat - and don't burn it up staying warm or keeping their temperatures normal (say from drinking super cold nectar) - will convert that sugar to fat, which then becomes their fuel. They can then either hawk insects from the air - midges, gnats - or glean them from trees.
Feeding winter hummers requires some dedication and information. Our feeder solutions should stay at 1:4 sugar to water and be kept at temperatures that are tepid, not simply above freezing. Drinking super cold nectar does lower the internal body temperature of any animal (why we put ice in our summer drinks), so giving hummers milkshakes and icy nectar is a recipe for making a bird that must go in and out of torpor. So, warm the feeder water up, don't just thaw it.
The Hummingbird Whisperer, Oregon Birders, and Pacific Northwest Birders Facebook pages are great sources for finding novel ideas for doing this. However, as usual, be selective and use your thinking caps, as there's a lot of funky ideas out there. Susie Niwa is a Hummer rehabber and she is an excellent source - and prolific - on all things hummers.
Remember some simple rules: lights at night disrupt birds' circadian rhythms (you can avoid this by using reptile white ceramic heat lamps that stay dark. Cheap red lights for poultry are a fire hazard and not good. There are professional versions, if you want those, email me for a source. Mini xmas lights can in fact be hot enough to burn a tiny bird's skin, so do not use these in a way that they can perch on the lights. Using the flat hummer feeders in which the nectar is in the lower, flat container (WBU), allows you to place some kind of warmer under all of the nectar (cup warmer, pet bird cage heater, hot pad (not pet heaters), etc. Placing the feeder close to the house but NOT in front of a window (for hopefully obvious reasons), this allows heat from the house and protection from the weather.
Anyhoo...good luck.
Elise Wolf
Native Bird Care
Sisters, OR
541-728-8208
|
