Why You Should Keep Your Hummingbird Feeder Up In The Fall

Among the many benefits of attracting hummingbirds to your yard, seeing them up close while they are taking a sip from your feeders is probably the greatest. However, this lovely sight does not last long. Fall arrives, and these jewel-colored beauties in your garden (and in other yards across the country) start gearing up for their southerly winter migration. Deciding when to take down your hummingbird feeder each season is a shared worry for gardeners.

You may be among the many people who fall prey to the common misconception that keeping feeders up for too long stops hummers from migrating. However, fall feeders not only fuel the birds for their journey but also give other traveling birds a much-needed boost. Furthermore, since hummingbirds are evolutionarily wired to avoid frost at all costs, even the most readily available food source won't stop them from taking their life-saving voyage to warmer climates. 

Even after the last of the hummingbirds has vanished from your yard, you should keep at least one feeder outside for a couple of weeks. You'll be doing other traveling fellows a massive favor. These birds, flying from farther north, will gladly use your feeder to refuel and replenish their reserves. In fact, a major advantage to keeping your feeders up in the fall is that these late-migrating hummingbirds may remember your garden and pay you a visit on their way back in spring.

You don't have to worry about interfering with your favorite birds' natural migrating cycles by keeping the feeders up for longer than needed. Hummingbirds instinctively realize it's time to migrate based on certain environmental cues — it's evolutionarily ingrained in them. These factors include day length and sunlight intensity. These changes also trigger an increase in appetite; the birds start accumulating fat reserves to survive migration. During this phase, technically known as hyperphagia, these little birds consume so many calories, especially from fat, that they can double their weight.

This is where your feeders can also assist, helping boost the birds' energy levels before they take on the winter. For some individuals, that means a 600-mile voyage above open water without stopping! At a time when few flowers are available as a source of food for hummingbirds, your feeder can provide birds that have lagged behind a chance to refuel and catch up.

While you can take the feeders down a couple of weeks after the last hummingbird sighting, you may as well keep them up throughout the winter. Some birds might surprise you by staying in your garden for the entire season. This is especially true for hummers residing in the western U.S. They sometimes choose to overwinter in select eastern states instead of their usual destinations in Mexico and Central America. Rufous hummingbirds, for instance, are regularly seen in the East during fall. They're hardier than ruby-throated hummingbirds, so you are more likely to see them in October and November.

These winter hummingbirds, as they're often called, pick gardens with a lot of late-blooming flowers — some evergreen shrubs will attract hummingbirds throughout winter, such as the fragrant sarcococca (Sarcococca confusa). They also prefer the presence of other birds, and of course, nectar feeders. In fact, if you keep your feeders up through fall, you might also have the good fortune to witness some rare species, such as blue-throated and magnificent hummingbirds. This is especially likely if you live in the East of the country. However, remember to bring your feeders inside during cold fall nights, and think twice before investing in heated hummingbird feeders, since they may not work well in extreme cold. Drinking cold nectar first thing in the morning can harm hummers, inducing energy-depleting shivering called torpor and putting them at risk of hypothermia.