Caring for Winter Hummingbirds

Excellent set up! 25 watt bulb, under eaves or baffle, soft vet wrap on perches. :)

Hummingbirds can and do die when deep cold, blizzards, and ice storms set in. Keeping them alive requires warm feeder solutions and, in some cases, an additional heat source.  

Hummingbirds in Trouble:

NEVER ignore a hummingbird that is clearly in trouble - sleeping in a location that seems off, bill frozen to the feeder, tongue sticking out, dropping out of the air, fallen into the snow, extended daytime 'sleeping' (torpor) on the feeder, or just bedraggled looking. We offer free phone assessments. See below. 

Can Hummingbirds Survive Intense Weather?

Short answer: Yes, but not always. 

Basics: Anna's Hummingbirds are 4-4.5 grams. On a warm day, hummingbirds must feed every 10-15 minutes; they can starve in hours. Hummingbirds eat insects and nectar. Insects provide them with nutrition; sugar gives them energy (especially energy to find insects). While they can survive on a feeder solution alone for up to 10 days at typical summer temperatures, intense cold requires significantly more energy. 

Physical limits: To survive, hummingbirds must eat frequently and have adaptations to conserve energy. They lack much of the down insulation found in other birds. Their fat is not an insulating layer; it's more like a gas station. Both indicate that hummingbirds are less able to withstand extreme cold and extreme heat. 

How Do Hummingbirds Use Torpor?

Torpor is a normal energy-saving state that hummingbirds use to survive when they can't fuel their very high metabolism, most commonly overnight or in cold periods. Hummingbirds can use both shallow and deep torpor (often even in the same night). Shallow (light) torpor is a short, easily reversible energy-saving dip with a moderate drop in body temperature and metabolism. In contrast, deep torpor is a longer, harder-to-arouse state with much more dramatic slowing of metabolism, heart rate, and body temperature to conserve maximum energy overnight.

Nighttime torpor is protective: body temperature, heart rate, and metabolism drop dramatically, allowing the bird to survive until morning. When a hummingbird is in deep nighttime torpor, it's intentionally running "cold" to survive the long overnight fast. Body temperature may drop dramatically (to 50 degrees), and heart rate can plunge to 50 beats. DO NOT WAKE UP A HUMMER IN TORPOR AT NIGHT OR EARLY AM. Read below. 

Daytime torpor or prolonged daytime "fluffed and parked" behavior is different. A hummingbird sitting at a feeder for long stretches during the day—especially fluffed up, very still, or repeatedly slipping into torpor—often signals an energy emergency (cold stress, poor body condition, illness, injury, poor feather insulation, very young/old bird, or failure to thrive).

Hummingbirds can look "fine" until they're close to crashing, and they can die quickly because they burn through fuel fast—sometimes in 10–15 minutes. The severe PNW cold snap a couple of years ago showed how real the losses can be; the population drop the following winter was noticeable.

When to Worry?

Hummingbirds can become imperiled when environmental or physical stresses - significant cold, wet weather, poor body condition, or injuries - prevent them from foraging. While daytime torpor is a nice emergency response, it is not a long-term strategy. Stress-induced torpor can become a deadly cycle in which the bird goes for many hours or days without eating highly nutritious foods. Sugar water is energy only. Starvation and nutritional deficiencies can set in. 

Torpor also means they are not preening, which reduces the cleanliness and quality of their feathers. Poor feather condition reduces weatherproofing and heat retention, increasing the risk of hypothermia. ​

The more a bird has to fly around, fighting for a chance at the feeder, the colder the solution, the less healthy the bird, the lower their fat stores, the worse the weather, the poorer their feather condition - the less likely they are to survive. 

Hummingbirds are tough, but there is a physical limit to how much they can tolerate before succumbing to hypothermia and starvation.

Feeder Tips for Helping Hummingbirds

Icy feeder solutions - "slushies" - further lower internal body temperature (think icy drinks on a hot day). Cold solutions require more energy to maintain a normal body temperature. This depletes their reserves and may require them to enter daytime torpor to survive. More time in torpor means less time foraging for the insects they need. 

1) Sugar solution should be tepid warm. Not hot! Do to bacteria, do not use hot water from the faucet. Do not keep solution too warm as bacteria can grow, even in cold. 

2. Recipe. Use a 4:1 water-to-white sugar solution, not 3:1, which is dehydrating and challenging for the kidneys. Dryer solutions (3:1) require water from the bird's tissues to metabolize. Dehydration is always a concern. 

3) Use a home-made or commercial hummingbird feeder heater: a 25-watt bulb is ideal for 0-25 degrees; a 15-watt bulb for 20-30 degrees; a 7.5-watt bulb for 30-40 degrees. A 25-watt bulb will not keep the liquid warm all day at super cold temps. Even with a feeder heater, you will need to replace the feeder during the day or provide supplemental heat. Incandescent holiday light bulbs can burn the birds' feet and are too weak to keep the solution thawed. Test temp with your finger. Tepid is good. 

4) Consider putting up a heat lamp and a perch. Use high-quality, shatter-resistant poultry bulbs with a heavier glass, usually dimpled and flatter, or reptile ceramic heat emitters. Avoid cheap, thin-glass red lamps. The ceramic white or black do not give off light, just heat, thus offering predator protection. Dark nights are better for birds' sleep (circadian rhythm) as well.  

5). Placement: Out of the wind and snow. Placing them under the eaves and near the house will keep them warmer. Use a baffle or cover over the feeder at least. 

6). Vet wrap the feeder perches - helps birds stay warmer. 

​7). What doesn't work: only switching feeders out - sugar water freezes again in a couple of hours. Holiday lights. Plain incandescent bulbs disturb sleep and are at risk for shattering.   

Important! Do not use hot water from a hot water tank, which carries bacteria. Hummers can get bacterial and fungal infections in their tongues. Warm in the microwave, on a stove top, or an electric kettle. Yes, filtered is better; no salt-treated water.  

​

Look closely, this bird has disheveled feathers & a wng injury.

Emergency Hummingbird Intervention
There is always a reason for a bird failing. Starvation from too many days in deep torpor or failure to forage. Loss of body condition and fat stores; feathering in poor condition. Birds with health conditions succumb quicker. Younger birds succumb quicker. 

Just slightly warming and then releasing a bird in poor condition will result in the bird's death.

If you have collected a torpored hummingbird in the evening or early am, it absolutely must be brought inside and not allowed to fly off once warmed!

If there is any question as to bird's condition, take bird to a rescue or call a professional.

1st Step for imperiled birds: collect the bird.

• If stuck to the feeder, bring the feeder with the bird on it inside and set it inside a large tub or box, cover with a colored cloth. 
• If not, collect the bird using a soft cloth. Do not attempt to wake if in torpor. 

2nd Step. Place in box with a clean hummingbird feeder with fresh solution.

• Place the bird in a small box about 12" by 12". 
• Place on soft fleece or other smooth warm fabric (no loops).
• Cover the box with light-colored, thin fabric (so it is light inside the box).
• Include a feeder so bird may wake and immediately feed. 
• Use a clean feeder with fresh solution.
• Do not remove outside feeder in case others are using it. 

3rd Step. Place box in warm, quiet room. 

• Place the box in a warm but not hot room. 
• Do not attempt to warm the bird quickly.
• Ensure the box is not on a cold surface like the floor or bathtub. 

4th Step. Take a few pictures to assess feather, bird condition.

• Text to Native Bird Care or other hummingbird experts. 
• Or, post on Hummingbird Whisperer FB page if not close to a rescue. 
• Pull picture up on computer and magnify to examine as much as you can. 
• Birds looking disheveled, dirty must come in.

5th Step. Document time to fully awake and moving about in box. 

• Use a timer to establish time to full wake and moving about in box. 
• The longer it takes, the more we know the type of torpor if in that state. 
• Deep torpor in daytime is cause to take to a rescue, always.

6th Step. Document everything you observed about bird. 

• Send these notes to Native Bird Care with pictures or to other rescue familiar with hummingbirds. 
• The more detail, the better. 

DO NOT: 

• FEED OR WATER THE BIRD - allow to feed on own from feeder only. 

SHOULD I RELEASE, IF SO WHEN, HOW?

Assess these things:

• Is the bird dirty, lethargic, not sitting up, or injured?
• How long did it take for her to wake up and move about?
• Does the bird actively eat at the feeder?
• Is he is actively buzzing around the box?
• Does the bird look super healthy (clean feathers, no injuries)?
• Does anything seem off? 
• What does your gut say?

Release:

• If the bird is so active that you think he will hurt himself in the box. 
• Bird looks in excellent condition. 
• Release during mid-morning. Never at night. 
• Provide clean, tepid solution feeder. 
• Buy feeder heater. 
• Offer fruit flies on shrubs or trees nearby. 

When to call or text a rescue: 

• Slow-to-start birds that take longer than an hour to recover. 
• If the bird stays in a prone (lying down) condition.
• If bird stays lethargic, not active.
• Looks poor or any problem with feathers, tongue, feet. 
• Stays fluffed up. 
• Looks skinny. 
• You may legally hold the bird temporarily until the bird can be transferred.
• Call or text us if you want us to make the release decision for you!
• Take to rescue if you want to confirm body condition (weight, muscle mass, injuries).
• Native Bird Care assesses while you wait if you are in Central Oregon. 
• A few days with a rehabilitator can mean the bird survives the winter or not. 

Questions? Help? Injuries? Text us. 541-728-8208 

Waking Up A Nighttime Hummingbird in Winter Can Be Fatal for Bird

• Rewarming is expensive. To become functional, the bird must generate heat through rapid muscle contractions ("shivering") and then warm itself—this can take a long time (often up to an hour) while it's groggy and sluggish.
• Lack of energy. During torpor, the bird isn't eating, and when it wakes, it must rewarm using stored energy—either fat, muscle, or the tiny amount stored in the crop.  
• Forced arousal can be the tipping point. If the bird was already marginal (low fat stores, cold stress, injury, emaciation), burning that extra energy to wake/rewarm can push it into collapse.
• Stress adds danger. Handling/disturbance increases stress and movement when the bird is least able to cope, and deep torpor already increases vulnerability. 

​

Injured, in distress hummingbird.

This hummingbird is in very poor body condtion, she did not make it.

Frozen feeders harm hummingbirds. These lights are doing nothing.

No heater, no perch. Flight burns up energy as much as they eat. So, bird is at high risk here. Metal cold base. Very poor choice.