Why Are Hummingbirds Attracted To Red?

So, being an avid bird watcher, you might have noticed that hummers are very fond of red color. Birders always mount red hummingbird feeders in their yards to lure small bird species. So, why are hummingbirds attracted to red?

The specialty doesn’t lie in the red color; in essence, hummers’ heightened concentration cones in their retinas, making these birds go after the red color. These cones feature pigment and globules of oil, acting as filters and increasing the sensitivity of hummingbirds as soon as these birds notice any bright color like red.

Another theory proposes that hummingbirds are attracted to the red color as they mostly find nectar in red-colored flowers. Hence, in searching for food, these birds perch on red objects even though it’s a red cloth.

So, these are the facts working behind the hummers’ attraction to red. Now let’s talk about what other colors these birdies like and how you can easily attract them to your yard to beautify your ambiance.

Is There Any Color That Hummers Don’t Like?

Red, orange, pink, yellow, and other bright colors attract hummingbirds. However, they do not hate any particular color. That said, if hummers can find food in the dull-colored flowers, they will keep visiting those flowers regularly.

Usually, hummers get around 19 to 21 percent of nectar content from red flowers, and this much nectar is enough for their daily calorie needs.

In contrast, dull-colored flowers contain comparatively less nectar content than bright-colored flowers. That’s why hummingbirds barely visit white or blue-colored flowers.

Do Hummers Prefer Red Or Clear Nectar The Most?

Although hummers are attracted to red, it doesn’t mean you have to put this color everywhere, especially in the nectar. Many birders have been recorded to add red dye to their hummingbird sugar water, which is wrong.

Therefore, we don’t recommend you do so because clear nectar will do perfectly well when it comes to luring hummers, while red nectar can cause harm to those birdies.

Is It Okay To Add Red Dye To Hummingbird Nectar?

You shouldn’t add red dye or any other food coloring to hummingbird sugar water. For your information, red dye is seen to cause harm to rats and mice.

This chemical ingredient is responsible for giving them harmful diseases like skin tumors. So, if you don’t wanna hurt those little creatures, provide them with clear nectar.

Do Red Feeders Entice The Hummers Most?

Many bird enthusiasts, especially newbies, believe that they must mount red hummingbird feeders in their backyards to entice hummers.

But this isn’t always the case; as you know, hummingbirds are attracted to any bright colors, so if you have such colored feeders in your outdoor space, you can easily attract those tiny birdies.

However, if you have a red hummingbird feeder, the chance of alluring hummers just doubles up. Once they are attracted to your feeder, they will regularly visit your home as these birds are known for their loyal trait.

Here’s a professional tip to follow to keep hummers visiting your garden nearly all the time.

First, you should place the feeder in an open location and plant some trees in your yard or garden that hummingbirds love. We recommend planting bee balms, daylilies, hollyhocks, foxgloves, lupines, and more hummingbird-friendly trees to lure hummingbirds.

We have shared some other effective methods for luring these fast-flying birds below. Let’s check them out.

Techniques To Apply To Attract Hummers To Your Yard: A Foolproof Plan:

You can follow these mentioned-below steps after adding some hummingbird-friendly plants in your garden, yard, or anywhere.

You can install a hummingbird birdbath in your garden because these birdies love to bathe for an extended duration. So, adding hummer bird baths to your garden will help you with the luring, though.

Alongside that, you can mount multiple bird feeders in your garden. This tactic will obviously be helpful, and it will also eliminate the issue of other birds dominating the hummer feeder.

Ensure continuous blooming of flowers in your garden. For that, you can plant various flowers that bloom throughout the year. As a result, hummingbirds will always have a reason to visit your garden regularly.

Keeping your garden clean is essential, but while cleaning, make sure that you leave spider webs as they are. It’s because hummers use spider webs to build nests.

Besides that, these birdies can catch protein-rich insects with the help of spider webs. So, if you intend to lure hummingbirds, you shouldn’t remove spider webs entirely from your garden or yard.

Try to lure insects besides attracting hummingbirds. For your information, hummingbirds love insects, so you can plant some flowers in your garden that can entice various insects.

That’s all for the hummingbird luring methods.

Final Words:

Hummingbirds, these little birdies are popular for their size, wing-flapping capacity, and other behavioral traits, like red color attraction. They choose this color over other colors because they usually find plenty of nectar content in red-colored flowers.

But these birdies also collect nectar from other bright-colored flowers. However, just because they love red color, you shouldn’t paint your entire garden with red hues, nor do you need to mount a red hummingbird feeder in your garden.

Instead, you can plant some hummingbird-friendly flowers, install perches and water baths, and add any bright-colored feeder filled with clear nectar. These tasks will be enough to lure those birdies to your yard. Hence, that’s all for this content, and thanks for reading.