Hummingbird feeders and "bee guards"

[Mmathis]

I don't understand why some of them have a yellow "bee guard," that is supposedly there to keep flying insects from getting to the solution of nectar.

The color YELLOW is an attractant for wasps, so isn't that counter-productive.....?

 

[sissy]

I got feeders at walmart that are all red and have slits rather than holes .Bees can not get in and gave up .The slits are to small for bees

 

[timvz]

It's all about the bottom line, I'm afraid. A yellow center is prettier to us too.

 

[sissy]

they were less than 4 dollars .I bought them last year

 

[R.Rose]

Bee guards in yellow are to resemble the pollen center of real flowers to direct the hummer to stick his tongue in for a sip. Birds see color and colors that are invisible to us. It's important is to have an ant mote. The feeder hangs from the mote that is filled with water preventing ants from walking down to the feeder.

It was a June Sunday morning and my Husband yells Rose get out here right now. There is this hummer hanging upside down on the feeder perch. Definitely not normal. He was nearly unconscious. His tongue was snatched up in a carpenter ant's jaws. The worker ant 1/2 inch long was probably drinking the sugar water andhe grabs this piece of protein flashing by him. Hummers need to feed every 15 minutes. Who knew how long he was with out a sip? I reached for him and he fell to the ground. I picked him up and pinched the head of the ant off to kill it. The jaws were locked on the tongue. I called 3 places in desperation. An emerg. animal clinic - they dont do birds. Our Cleveland Zoo with it new multi Million dollar animal hospital - no one in on a Sunday Morning! Lake Erie Nature and Science Center Animal Rehab said bring him in. They are over 45 min drive and the hummer would be dead. They needed to see the hummer and couldn't tell me what to do. I figured he had a small chance with me. I ran water over his tongue and gently yanked at the head - no luck. I was worried that the tongue was pieced. I got tweezer and pinched the head and the jaws let go. The hummer was just laying on the towel and I got a straw and siphoned up sugar water and put his tongue in. A few tries later and his throat was swallowing. I let him loose under our patio and he flew up to a clematis vine. I called LENSC and told them I saved his life. They told me that was fast thinking. I started crying in joy and releasing stress. He flew back to the feeder and in mid flight kind of shook his head no and flew off. He did return later in the day. Thats when i bought a mote - never to let that happen again. Al asked me if he was soft. I didn't know because I was focusing on saving his life.

 

[addy1]

I wrap the hanging wire with aluminum foil make a small bowl of it, coat it with Vaseline, stops the ants.

Neat you saved the little one. They are very soft and feel like a feather so light. I have held one a few times.

 

[Mmathis]

@R.Rose What an incredible story and so glad you got there in time and used your head! It's a good thing there wasn't some kind of toxic or allergic reaction with that ant's bite that might have caused the tongue to swell -- that in itself could have been fatal. Hmmm, I wonder if maybe hummers have a natural immunity to things like that.....?

I found one once that was knocked out when it ran into a window. It was fine and flew off after 10 minutes or so. Fortunately I heard it hit and went to investigate -- I would have left it alone on the ground, but we had prowling neighborhood cats.....

I do use ant motes. And I usually take off the yellow bee-guard as the hummers don't seem to mind. I just hate it when I look out and see a hummer dive-bombing a wasp [or vice versa] that is tanking up at one of the feeder ports!

 

[Mmathis]

they were less than 4 dollars .I bought them last year

I think I have that feeder, or one like it -- did it come as a set of 3 that you can either snap together or use separately? I like it.

 

[sissy]

came as 1 .I bought them end of season actually in clearance rack in 2012 and they were a dollar each .This is my second summer with them