I've noticed that every time a hummingbird drinks, it then flies up and around the feeder to check the level of liquid. Then it flies off and comes back to drink again. Why is this?
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They have long, retractable tongues. It would seem they check the level first to know how much tongue they need to release.
I read somewhere that the inspect food for mold, spoilage, and to be sure it is not poison and if they process it as safe and edible, they come back. If the don't come back there may be mold spores so give the feeder a good cleaning!
Pandy,
I've noticed that too with some our backyard hummingbirds. I've seen when they drink *steady* for awhile at any particular feeder, an air bubble will rise up in the liquid because of how much of a drink they took at one time-and some of the hummingbirds will almost move back (hovering) looking like they're saying "what was that?" sort of body language, and some will then really take to inspecting it all around too, and some know it's going to happen when they've experienced it before so they're not phased by the bubbles they can create by drinking a lot without backing up (or coming up for air) as we say. And maybe they are looking to see if it's okay to drink.
They notice any changes too with a feeder. If a feeder has one port hole (like the tiny feeders do) and the feeder is hung back up but it's put back in the opposite direction, they get funny about it (they get nervous) actually is what we've seen.
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