What Do Hummingbirds Eat

What do hummingbirds eat in order to meet the demands of their high metabolic rate? If you guessed “nectar,” you’d be correct. However, the hummingbird diet also requires proteins, fats, minerals, and vitamins – where do they get those nutrients?

What Do Hummingbirds Eat the Most?

On average, hummingbirds beat their wings 50 times per second and are capable of beating them four times faster than that. They can fly in all directions: forward, backward, and sideways. They can also stop in mid-air; their wings beating and rotating like a machine.

Their metabolism is the highest of any animal on Earth, and though tiny, they require a great deal of food to survive. To keep their energy levels up, hummingbirds must daily eat their weight in nectar. They must also supplement their diet with bugs and insects, like aphids, gnats, and beetles. For the hummingbird – when awake – it’s all about finding the next meal.

Thus, to the question: What do hummingbirds eat? The answer is “80% nectar and 20% insects.” As for nectar (or carbohydrates), hummingbirds are quite discerning in their search. Like bees, they can sense the nectar content of a flower and if a blossom offers less than 10%, they will simply move on. In their quest, hummingbirds can visit 1,000 flowers per day!

Garden Feeders

This keen sense of “what is nectar/what isn’t” is why the hummingbird will stop at bird feeders that offer the tasty promise of “4 parts water/1 part sugar.” This ratio is a fair simulation of sweet nectar. Note: If ever you set up a hummingbird feeder yourself, be sure to 1) make the water-sugar ratio 4:1, 2) keep the feeder clean, and 3) use only table sugar and never artificial sweetener or honey.

A Daily Dose of Proteins and Minerals

In nature, a special treat for hummingbirds is a sapsucker hole, which offers both sweets and insects. Indeed, hummingbirds need more than just nectar to live. Though nectar (and sap) helps meet a hummingbird’s carbohydrate intake, bugs and insects help provide protein. Like all living creatures, a hummingbird needs protein nutrients to function – albeit at a lower daily intake.

Among the “arthropods” that hummingbirds get protein from are ants, gnats, caterpillars, mosquitoes, and spiders. With spiders, a hummingbird will eat the bugs in a spider web – as well as the spider if present. Also, when preparing for the fall migration or nesting, hummingbirds will consume more insects.

Baby Hummingbirds

Speaking of nesting, hummingbird chicks require a daily diet of “regurgitated nectar and insects” supplied by their mother. Their diet is indeed the same as adults, only with more protein to help with growth and development.

Myth: Hummingbirds Feed Constantly

One other misconception about hummingbirds is that they must eat for the majority of the day. This is false. While it is true that hummingbirds need to eat several meals per day, it would be impossible for them to maintain this pace 24/7. A more accurate breakdown sees them spend 15-20% of the day feeding and 80% sitting, digesting, and resting in a state of torpor.

What is torpor? Torpor is a deep sleep that causes the hummingbird’s metabolic rate to drop dramatically. During this “hibernation,” a hummingbird's heart rate will drop to 50-180 beats per minute (from 1,260 beats per minute when active!). Also, respiration will slow and body temperature will decrease.

These biological changes make it possible for the hummingbird to rest and handle the elements (such as the night’s cold). It also removes the bird’s need to constantly feed. As noted, hummingbirds eat in order to meet the demands of their energy output. When in torpor, energy levels are shut down.

What Do Hummingbirds Eat