At least occasionally.
Early yesterday morning I documented a female hummingbird drinking plain water (not nectar). I had recently hand-watered parts of my garden so most everything was wet. Instead of going to the various flowers, she was fluttering over my wet nasturtium leaves. She was in poor light and she wasn’t particularly close, so I almost didn’t even aim my lens her way.
But when I finally realized that she was going from water drop to water drop on the leaves I figured there might be some interesting behavior going on so I took a few documentary photos. To be honest, I thought she was looking for water to bathe in – a behavior I’ve documented before.
It didn’t even enter my mind that she might be drinking the water drops. I’ve looked it up before and most sources I’ve found say that hummingbirds don’t drink plain water because they get much more water than they need from the nectar they drink. This reply from an AI query is pretty typical of the responses I get from other sources.
- “No, hummingbirds normally do not drink plain water. They get all the water and hydration they need from the sweet nectar in flowers or sugar water in feeders.”
But don’t tell that to this little lady. This is the first of five photos (taken in a burst) I got of her with the tip of her bill touching a tiny water drop on a nasturtium leaf.
This is photo #5. In all the photos in-between the tip of her bill was in or touching the water drop. I suspect she was tasting it.
Then, in the very next photo in the burst, the water drop was gone. So she must have slurped it down. And there’s no question that it was plain water and not nectar, unless sugar water is coming out of my garden hose.
I suppose it’s possible that she knocked the water drop to the ground, but I think that’s unlikely – in part because she continued to go after other water drops on the leaves.
What do you think? Am I delusional or was she drinking plain water?
Ron
I have feeders for hummers on my porch. They are popular. I also have a water dish for all the birds in the garden. Hummers quite often some and SIT and drink. I had never seen that until this year.
She was drinking water! Trust your observations on this one; we’re always learning new things about animal behavior 🤗👍
I think you’re right, Mandy.
Hello Dear Ron,
Hummmingbirds have always drunk from my hose as I spray the garden. They are not getting wet, just hovering over and dipping their beaks in. I’ve observed this for the last forty years.
Thank you always for resuming your sporadic photo and knowledge sharing. I look forward to each one.
Your, Mandy
Interesting, Mandy. Thanks.
Agree with Michael. In your previous bathing hummer post I mentioned my kitchen window fountain that is a hummer bathing magnet. They also drink from it. 😊 Pics from your lovely backyard are always a welcome sight!
“They also drink from it.”
Good to know. Thanks, Kathleen.
I think humans are often delusional, as is ai, but science is always discovering new information about our universe. So thanks for your observations (and photographic evidence) dispelling a long held belief. Just when we thought ai knew everything😂
Brett, I’m always skeptical of AI (above and beyond a genuine dislike for it), knowing that you can’t always rely on its responses.
I believe they drink plain water. Hummers were regular visitors to a fountain I had at my previous residence. It was a very gentile flow fountain and very often they would come by to bathe in a small depression at the center. But also they would hover and put their beaks onto the flat top edge of the fountain where the water (maybe a couple millimeters deep) flowed down over the edge. They would pause there for a few seconds and fly off. I always assumed that they were getting a drink. To me there was no other reasonable explanation.
“To me there was no other reasonable explanation.”
From what you described, I agree Michael.
Great shots Ron and unusual for sure!! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you, Jerry.
Interesting! Perfectly logical to me if they aren’t getting enough fluid from the nectar available and it’s hot out! Always something new to learn – luv it!
I also had to look up the fothergilla – must not be native to our “neck of the woods”.
I’m enjoying our cooler, wetter weather – labor day type weather for us. 🙂
Judy, these photos were taken soon after sunrise so I wondered if she was drinking plain water after spending the long night without drinking anything.
I think she was drinking plain water. Though in your first picture it looks as if the tip of her bill was to the side of the water droplet. A few days ago you posted pictures of a hummingbird with its bill in an eggplant flower, and I wondered whether the bird could have been drinking water. That’s a pretty wild guess, since water would have drained out of the flower, unless there were pockets or hairs inside to catch the water.
“I wondered whether the bird could have been drinking water”
Phil, as you insinuate, it’s unlikely that she was drinking plain water from the eggplant flower because it was upside down. But when it comes to hummers it’s hard to completely rule out almost anything.
I am not going to comment on whether or not you’re delusional. . .I just want you to know how much I enjoy seeing the hummingbird(s) in your photos. Good morning!
“I am not going to comment on whether or not you’re delusional.”
Geez Sue, I’m slowing down in my old age. Normally I wouldn’t give my readers that opening – especially knowing you’re lurking “out there”. 🙂
That is so interesting you caught this scene and interaction with a drop of water. It makes me curious how a hummingbird can suck liquid up through that long bill? That’s a new thought to me.
It seems like critters know what they need, and if she was after a drop of plain water so be it.
Thanks, Jean. It’s my understanding that hummers don’t “suck” liquids up their bill. Instead, their tongues act as tiny elastic micropumps, forcing liquids up their grooved bills.
Have seen this same behavior in my Massachusetts pollinator garden which is bounded by fothergilla, its flowers long gone. The upper leaves are tilted such that they funnel water toward the stem. After a rainstorm, hummers will flit from branch tip to branch tip and seemingly pause for a drink — or at least that was my speculation. Thank you for the confirming photos in your post!
Interesting, Barbara. I’d never heard of fothergilla so I looked it up.
Fascinating. Thank you.
Thanks, Karen.