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What Pops Off Hummingbird Feeder Flowers

by Nina

( Squamish, British Columbia, Canada )

I have been feeding the hummingbirds for many years now, I make my own feeding nectar.

I have noticed in the last two weeks that the nectar has disappeared, and yellow caps have been popped off the feeders, this has never happened before.

I live in Squamish, British Columbia, Canada.

I am not too sure that my problem could be raccoons as I have seen how much damage they can do.

The feeder is still intact just the yellow caps popped off.

Plus, the feeder is hanging in a place that is not easily accessible to a raccoon.

I have noticed over the weeks that Purple Finches have been landing on the feeders now and again in the daytime.

I have never seen bats or squirrels, also one of my bird feeding neighbours is having the same problem.

We live in an apartment complex, but it does have a few large trees around.

This is a mystery we may never solve, but I would be interested to know your thoughts.

Yours sincerely, Nina.

Hi Nina

This is a fairly common occurrence many backyard bird watchers face.

The yellow or whatever colour the flowers on a hummingbird feeder may be, are often removable.

The fact that they pop off is a handy feature when it comes to cleaning nectar feeders, but it also makes it easy for other birds or animals to remove them too.

This often reveals a wider hole large enough for bigger beaks to reach the nectar.

Of course, bigger beaks means bigger birds, with bigger stomachs to fill and the result is vanishing syrup.

I have experienced this very situation. In our case it was a Baltimore Oriole I glimpsed popping the flower off and enjoying a sweet drink.

Then the House Finches decided that they would help themselves as well, since the Oriole had made the nectar accessible to big beaks.

It was an education to us as this happened many years ago in our early backyard bird feeding days.

I have seen other types of birds give our Hummingbird feeders a try many times since, but most are unsuccessful because of the style of nectar feeder I now use.

How To Solve This Mystery?

• It would not be safe for the birds to glue the flowers down, so purchasing a new hummingbird feeder that does not have removable flowers is the only solution to stop the removal of the flowers.
• Buy an Oriole feeder that has the holes designed to accommodate bigger beaks allowing them to reach the syrup.
• Or, just sit back and enjoy the new activity at your hummingbird feeder while you stock up on sugar to ramp up your syrup making production.

?

List Of Birds Seen At Hummingbird Feeders:

• Woodpeckers of various types

 

• Finches of various types – House Finches, Purple Finches, Goldfinches

 

• Orioles of various types

 

• Warblers of various types

 

• Chickadees of various types

 

Verdins

There are probably others but these are the ones I have heard of that have a taste for nectar.

Please let us know if you solve this mystery for sure!

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