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June 14, 2006
Red Dye Killing the Hummingbirds?
Long story short:, there is no definitive evidence that red dye is killing hummingbirds, or that it makes the shells of their eggs soft.
The Good News: There is no need to worry, make your own, just mix sugar and water.
If you are on any of the Email Groups lists.. you've seen these kinds of posts all the time. Many times these emails are not sourced very well, but somehow, they become *fact* in peoples minds.
This morning, it was: Red Dye is killing Hummingbirds. I'll post the info below. The battle can rage, manufacturers of "ready made" mixes
stand firmly in the belief that Red Dye is OK. Rehabbers etc, will stand firm in the fact that a lot of these dyes, are petroleum based, and dangerous to feed.
My solution is to just make your own! It's not rocket science, it's sugar and water! More Specifically it's: 4 parts water to 1 part sugar. There is no need to add color to the water, the feeder color attracts them.
Good info on feeding and care of the feeders: Hummingbird Society
You can read the Email making the rounds....
Red Dye in Hummingbird Food
by Janine Perlman
You may be surprised, even shocked, to learn that there are no legal
standards whatsoever for safety or quality in products for wildlife
(terrestrial or avian), including those designed for hummingbirds.
Indeed, many "reputable" nectar products have proved poisonous to
hummingbirds--in some cases they have killed all the birds in a zoo or rehabilitation setting because quality control is so poor.
In safety trials, the evidence that red dyes are dangerous is
circumstantial to definite. Unless the label says otherwise, these
dyes are petroleum-based. Depending on the specific dye, it may, or it definitely does, cause cancer in rodents. I don't eat red dyes myself, I don't give them to my pets, and I wouldn't feed them to animals in my yard, either.
The amount of dye that hummingbirds can consume from a feeder is
staggering. Imagine, each day, eating four times your own weight in
sugar water dyed a deep red. How much of a "body burden" might that be?
As a wildlife rehabilitator, the results I've seen in birds fed
dyed hummingbird products are appalling. Their droppings are blood-red, both feces and urine. After being returned to a healthful, dye-free diet, it takes at least three days for the droppings to return to their normal color.
Think about what that implies for an animal with the metabolic rate
of hummingbirds, which ordinarily burn extremely quickly everything that goes into their bodies. It means that the diet is fat-soluble and is being accumulated in vast amounts in the body most likely in the liver, and possibly in other organs and tissues too.
In the case of a female whose liver is synthesizing all the protein,
fat, and other nutrients for the eggs on which her young will depend
until they hatch, these dyes could be disastrous. If the mother's liver isn't damaged outright (which it well may be), imagine what those eggs look like,
and what the fetuses suffer. Petroleum dyes famously dissolve into DNA, so the fathers' sperm may be affected too.
It would be at all surprising if fecundity plummets in hummingbird
populations fed dyes, and if birds "fortunate" enough to hatch are born with congenital defects. How and when would we know that we're causing death and deformity because of what we're feeding? The answer is that we wouldn't, until the situation became terribly serious.
There is never any reason to use dyes in hummingbird food, and
there is every reason not to do so. Remember, dyed today may be dead tomorrow.
************
Published in NetLines (Newsletter of the Hummer Bird Study Group,
www.hummingbirdsplus.org), Volume 11 Issue 3 (Fall 2005). Janine
Perlman is
a rehabilitator in Arkansas who specializes in hummingbirds.
Posted by sue at June 14, 2006 10:00 AM