Ridiculous argument... it is making it way more complicated than necessary. BTW...Sugar is NOT cocaine to a hummingbird.. it is sucrose, virtually identical to what naturally occurs IN FLOWER NECTAR. Just use plain white sugar diluted in water and quit trying to put together some kind of vitamin drink when that is possibly screwing up their sensitive metabolic systems. We give way more credence to our human intervention as 'helping' wild animals when in fact most if not all of it is unnecessary and is actually interference. I do put out a feeder in the summer to enjoy the hummers presence but I am not naive enough to think I am sustaining them when I have a yard filled with massive numbers of zinnias, bee balm, honeysuckle, milkweed, penstemon, phlox and many others. And skip the honey...hummers would never be eating it in the wild. And everything I've read says it can contain bacteria that is harmful to birds (not just hummingbirds) as well as human babies.

Marilyn, a bear knocking out my kitchen window would make me crazy! Not in the daytime, but won't they get bolder? Deer do. About feeders, my ones on shepherd's hooks in the front yard have been okay at night. However, we have had to bring the deck feeders in at night for about a month because they were raided several times, each time rougher and more aggressively.. The first few times, they were just dry in the morning, and a suet feeder was not touched. Then the;y were dry and one knocked down, suet still left alone. Finally, .they were knocked down and the suet feeder completely eaten out, mud in the birdbath underneath. We thought maybe raccoons. If I thought it was a bear, I would want to buy an elephant gun. I certainly would have to bring them in at dusk because I'd be too afraid to venture out there at night.

It looks like there's only a tiny drop of nectar in each flower so the hummer only stays for less than a second. I wonder if that's because the flowers are past prime now and they usually have more nectar. That's hard work for a little bird - no wonder they appreciate a feeder for supplemental feedingt even though the sugar solution isn't as good as nectar. The bee likes the monarda (AKA bee balm) too. Thanks, Claire

If possible it's best to have as many flowers that hummers prefer. Some people don't have much room and feeders are very helpful for them. I have lots of flowers and have two feeders in use. I use First Nature hummingbird feeders primarily because they are so easy to clean. Also, I've had Baltimore Orioles using them the last year. That was a real treat. I haven't seen an Oriole in a week or so; I suspect that they have migrated north. I have four feeders. I wash two right after I replace them with the other two. I don't use bleach. It's very difficult to get all of it off. I use vinegar to kill the mold, but I don't need to use it very often. I use a 3-to-one solution of water to sugar. I think that either 4-to-one or 3-to-one is good. The hummingbird migration is ongoing. Those of us in Central and Northern Florida will see more and those of us in the South will probably see less.