{"id":27568,"date":"2026-10-08T05:27:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T12:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/yakima\/?p=27568"},"modified":"2026-09-30T10:32:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T17:32:42","slug":"feeding-hummingbirds-in-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/yakima\/2026\/10\/08\/feeding-hummingbirds-in-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"Feeding hummingbirds in winter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Feeding hummingbirds in winter<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

by Carol Barany, <\/strong>Yakima Master Gardener<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

TRUE OR FALSE? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keeping your hummingbird feeders up in October will prevent hummingbirds from migrating south as winter approaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FALSE!   <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the 383 species of hummingbirds of the Americas, 16 are found on the North American continent. Almost every North American gardener, including some in Alaska, can expect to host to at least one hummingbird species from late March through September. Yakima is no exception. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four distinct species of hummingbirds live in or visit Central Washington. Three of them are genetically programmed to migrate south as cold weather approaches, regardless of the availability of artificial food sources.  They are cued by changes in daylight and their own hormonal cycles.  Adult males are often among the first to leave, followed by females, and then young birds migrating for the first time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can keep your feeder filled this winter for the Anna\u2019s Hummingbird, a species that reliably overwinters in Central Washington.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even without a birder\u2019s binoculars, hummingbirds are easy to spot. With strong wing muscles that can beat 80 times per second, I\u2019ve watched them fly forward, backward, and upside down.  They can hover or zoom along at high speed and then suddenly stick the landing at my feeder. Long before I see a hummingbird, I can often hear their distinctive \u2018chirp.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black-chinned Hummingbirds usually arrive in late April or early May and have started migrating south by the end of August or September.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Calliope Hummingbirds migrate north from Mexico and typically arrive in Central Washington by mid-to-late April and are active through July. Most begin their southward migration by August or September. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rufous Hummingbirds are Washington’s common, widespread breeder. They arrive in early March in Western Washington and about a month later east of the Cascades. By October, they\u2019ve left their Yakima range for wintering grounds in Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, Anna’s Hummingbirds have steadily expanded their range eastward over the Cascades.  Unlike the other three hummingbird species that migrate south from the Yakima Valley as colder weather approaches, the Anna\u2019s species stays through the fall and freezing winter months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anna\u2019s Hummingbirds are uniquely adapted to survive winter in central Washington. To conserve energy at night, or when food is hard to find, they go into a state called torpor which allows energy use to drop by 95%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this state, their normal body temperature drops from 104 F to between 38F and 50F.  Heart rate slows from over 500 beats per minute to fewer than 50 beats per minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They begin to break torpor about 1-2 hours before sunrise and become fully active by first light, ready to fly and forage when the sun comes up.  In the depths of winter, I expect a hummingbird visit at 7:00 am PST at the heated feeder I\u2019ve hung for years near my kitchen window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hummingbirds are tiny, but they must eat more than their weight in food every day or risk starvation.\u00a0 Regardless of the season, a hummingbird\u2019s main food source is protein-rich insects rather than nectar. Some insects are active in winter, but not many. Carbohydrate-rich nectar gives hummingbirds the energy they need to sustain their metabolism and hunt insects. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Hummingbirds<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

If you keep a hummingbird feeder up this winter, you are committing to faithful stewardship of that feeder until the temperatures warm in the early spring.  Overwintering hummingbirds come to depend on this food source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s essential to keep the feeder clean.  Change the nectar at least once a week and clean the feeder every time you change the nectar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nectar recipe is four parts water to one part sugar. Use only white cane sugar. Never use honey, artificial sweeteners, or add red food coloring. Bring the mixture to a boil, cool and store for a week to ten days in the refrigerator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Place the feeder out of the reach of cats and at least four feet off of the ground. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recommended sugar solution starts to get slushy at 29degrees F and freezes solid at 25 degrees F. In very cold weather, keep two feeders full of nectar.  When one starts to freeze, bring it inside to thaw and put the other one up.  At dark, bring the feeder inside for the night but get it back outside again just before dawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feeding hummingbirds in winter is easier with the use of a heated feeder, widely available on-line and from local merchants including the Yakima Area Arboretum gift shop.  The heat generated by a small 7 watt incandescent light bulb with a candelabra base is all it takes to keep the nectar from freezing. They cost pennies a day to operate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A heated feeder makes a great gift for any Yakima gardener or bird lover.  Your local Anna\u2019s Hummingbirds might enjoy it even more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Feeding hummingbirds in winter by Carol Barany, Yakima Master Gardener TRUE OR FALSE?  Keeping your hummingbird feeders up in October will prevent hummingbirds from migrating south as winter approaches. FALSE!  […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wsuwp_accessibility_report":null,"_external_link":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[65],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/yakima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27568"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/yakima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/yakima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/yakima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/yakima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27568"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/yakima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27570,"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/yakima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27568\/revisions\/27570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/yakima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/yakima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/yakima\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}