Hummingbird feeders were beginning to be developed about 1928 but a National Geographic article in 1947 used a newly developed strobe flash to show hummingbirds in flight at a feeder and interest was heightened outside the scientific community. In 1950 the Audubon Novelty Company offered an affordable feeder and hummingbird feeding has never looked back.
Today, feeders are offered in an infinite array of sizes and styles which are available nearly everywhere. What sizes and styles are best is a continuing argument among experts. While there are a few that have more desirable features, most properly placed and maintained feeders will provide food for the hummer and enjoyment for the feeder owner. Pros and cons of various readily-available feeders are discussed here.
There are nearly as many styles and types of hummingbird feeders as there are people who feed the feisty little birds. Hummers will regularly come to any feeder which is well cared for and well placed in an area where they have room to maneuver once they have located it. Other than these basic factors, one can start a vigorous argument about the merits and dangers of a particular style of feeder and which is best.
Almost all styles have advantages and disadvantages and there certainly enough styles to fit most any situation. Feeders come in plastic and glass; they come in platform, tube, and vacuum styles; and they hang, stick to the window, or stand in a hanging basket or window box. What follows are some general observations by myself and others about the various types.
Platform Feeders
Plastic platform feeders are available in nearly every discount, department, and hardware store in the country and range from very cheap to fairly pricey. This type usually has multiple ports in the top of a lower platform and may come with or without perches and bee guards. This feeder operates on the same principle as the vacuum feeder described below and uses a vacuum to hold the liquid in a container above the feeding ports. My early experience with the cheap feeder was that it very quickly deteriorated in the outdoors, cracked, had parts fall off, often developed annoying leaks, and required frequent replacement. Because these feeders operate on the same physics as the vacuum style feeder, they will leak if they have even the tiniest invisible crack or hole that allows air to enter them.
While it is interesting to see hummers perch on the feeder, there seems to be some disagreement about just how often that happens and even more about how often one will see more than one bird on the feeder. I have seen females and juveniles share a feeder late in the season but have seldom seen multiples feeding early in the season when the males are intent on chasing away interlopers at "their" feeder. I have one feeder hanging on a shepherd's crook and very often a hummer will perch on top of the crook between sips at the feeder to stand guard. Hovering is not harmful and is the normal mode when feeding from a flower. While the ability to disassemble this feeder does make it somewhat easier to clean, it also makes it more prone to breakage and deterioration.
Vacuum Feeders
The vacuum style feeder is similar to a hamster watering bottle and operates by drawing a vacuum in the top of the feeder when it is inverted. There is a rubber stopper and feeding tube below the nectar container. This is similar to placing a finger over the end of a straw in a soda and lifting up some liquid. The most common complaint is that this style is prone to dripping. This can be true but there are several ways to reduce or eliminate the drips. The feeder should be nearly full before inverting, the stopper must fit air-tight, the stopper should be wet when inserted with a twisting motion, and the feeder should not be placed in direct sunlight all day.
Some of these feeders may be a bit harder to clean but it can be done if just a bit of time and care is taken. These do not have to be red or have red nectar and usually have a bright red tip on the tube at the nectar source. A new feeder or a feeder in a new location can be accented with a red bow or red ribbons to attract the birds. Once they have located the feeder, the red can be removed as it is no longer necessary. A translucent or transparent feeder does allow one to see the level of the nectar in the bottle but it does not take much monitoring to determine if the feeder needs filling, and it should be cleaned and refilled every 3 or 4 days anyway.
These too can be simple or very ornate and run from inexpensive to works of decorator art. The primary problem with these is that there is a temptation to use a "standard" size stopper which is supposed to fit a soda or wine bottle. Unfortunately soda and wine bottles do not have a "standard" neck and if the stopper is even a bit loose, the feeder will leak and the buyer will be very unhappy. The tube style feeder consists of plastic or glass tubes with caps which have a hole in them. These are mounted in a hanger similar to a trumpet flower or other natural nectar source. These have the advantage of being easily replaced and easily cleaned but many consider their small volume to be a major drawback. A tube feeder with several stations seldom has all stations empty at the same time as the birds tend to sample each available tube in the same way they would a flowering bush. Part of the fun of the tube feeder is watching the birds flit from one tube to another. I keep several full tubes in the refrigerator and have them ready to change when I notice one empty and can clean and refill them at my convenience. A big advantage of this feeder is that it does not leak and seems to be more bee-proof. It is also very light and lends itself to being placed in a hanging planter or suction cupped to a window.
Nectar Cups
Another style has a shallow container which may or may not have one or more hollow-stemmed artificial glass or plastic flowers stuck into it from the top. These also do not generally hold very much nectar and it is nearly impossible to keep pests out of an uncovered nectar cup. If hollow-stemmed flowers are incorporated, the bird hovers or perches on the cup and dips their beak into the flower to get to the nectar. There are reports out there which say that hummingbirds have gotten their beak caught in the feeder's flower. I have not personally seen this but I do not prefer this type anyway.
Location, Location, Location
Where to hang the feeder can be a difficult decision in which one has to balance the habits and likes of the bird with the natural desire to observe them. A new (first time) feeder is best hung near a flower garden, flower pot, or window box as that is one of the first places a hummer will check for food. Just as we recognize pizza, they know flowers. Once discovered as a food source, a feeder can be moved to a more viewable location in increments, taking care to maintain a feeder and hummer friendly environment.
Eventually a feeder can be placed very close to a window or a patio/deck and the hummers will continue to come. They are pretty fearless and learn quickly that the mere presence of humans is not a danger. Some additional considerations are predators, sunlight, nearby cover, and animal pests. As fast as a hummer is, it is still vulnerable to predators. Probably the most common is the family cat. Though it would seem the cat could never catch a hummer, it does happen. Only the Calliope is known to regularly feed within 5' of the ground anyway. Keep this in mind when placing your feeder.
Direct sunlight is the enemy of your nectar. Sugar water ferments very quickly as the temperature goes up and it goes up fast in an exposed feeder container. Nectar also molds. Fermentation is seen in the feeder as cloudiness; mold forms ugly black spots in the mixture or on the sides of the container. In either case, the birds quickly recognize an unpalatable, and possibly dangerous, mixture and will abandon that feeder for sweeter pastures and it often requires much time and effort to persuade them to return to that feeder when they have other food sources readily available. This is very likely the cause of the complaint that "the birds went away" or "they don't like the feeder". Note that there will be a lower level of feeding at the feeder during the time the female has chicks in the nest.
Placing the feeder in shade and out of as much direct sunlight as possible will go a long way to keeping the feeder clean and active and reduce, but NOT eliminate, the cleaning and filling chore.
Temperature and sunlight are also contributors to a commonly-voiced dripping problem with vacuum feeders. It is simply physics that when a gas or liquid is heated, it expands and what is inside the feeder is a bit of each. When liquid expands it has to go someplace and that someplace is generally out the feeding tube in the form of annoying and unsightly drips. This probably cannot be entirely eliminated but keeping the feeder out of direct sunlight is one positive step.
Some recommend the placing of two or more feeders out of sight of each other to reduce the territorial squabbles that occur when a male takes "possession" of a feeder. This should have some effect, but we do like to have all the feeders in places they can be seen and dividing them makes this harder.
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