The common image of a hummingbird involves a tiny blur of motion hovering at a flower, drawing energy from sweet nectar. While nectar provides the immense energy needed to fuel their metabolism and rapid wingbeats, it is a nutritionally incomplete food source. Nectar is essentially sugar water, supplying only carbohydrates for immediate energy demands. To survive, grow, and reproduce, hummingbirds must supplement this high-octane fuel with a diet that provides all the other necessary components for life. The answer to whether hummingbirds eat anything besides nectar is a definite “yes.”
The Primary Non-Nectar Diet
The most important food source beyond nectar is small arthropods, including insects and spiders. Hummingbirds are voracious insectivores, consuming dozens of these tiny creatures daily to meet their nutritional needs. Their prey includes minute flying insects such as gnats, aphids, mosquitoes, fruit flies, and small spiders.
Hummingbirds employ two primary methods for capturing this prey. The first method is called “hawking,” where the bird catches flying insects directly out of the air. The hummingbird darts from a perch, snatches the insect with its specialized beak, and often returns to the same perch. The second technique is “gleaning,” which involves plucking stationary insects or spiders from leaves, branches, tree bark, or flowers.
They are also known to steal insects trapped in spider webs, a method that requires precision and speed. Studies analyzing the stomach contents of hummingbirds have frequently revealed the presence of arthropod remains. This confirms the significance of insects and spiders in their daily intake, ensuring they secure enough protein alongside their carbohydrate intake.
Nutritional Requirements Beyond Sugar
Insects and spiders are the primary sources of protein, fats, vitamins, and minerals that are completely absent or present only in trace amounts in nectar. Without these components, a hummingbird cannot maintain its body or perform many biological functions. A diet consisting only of nectar or sugar water would eventually lead to death due to malnutrition.
Protein is particularly important for the growth and development of young nestlings, and nesting females must consume a far greater number of insects to meet the demands of their brood. Protein is also necessary for feather construction, which is especially critical during the molting process. Amino acids derived from protein are required for tissue repair, enzyme production, and building the fat reserves that fuel their long migratory flights.
The fat content in insects provides a dense energy source that can be stored for later use, a capability that nectar does not offer. Insects also supply trace minerals like calcium and salts, which are necessary for bone health and proper cellular function. This biological need for a full spectrum of nutrients explains why hummingbirds are obligate insectivores.
Supplemental Food Sources and Hydration
Besides insects, hummingbirds utilize a few other supplemental food sources when their primary diet components are scarce. One such source is tree sap, which they access from holes drilled into tree trunks by sapsuckers. Tree sap contains sucrose and amino acids, making it a viable secondary sugar and nutrient source when flower nectar is temporarily unavailable.
Hummingbirds also consume small amounts of pollen, which they pick up incidentally while probing flowers for nectar. While not intentionally eaten as a primary food, pollen does offer supplementary protein and other compounds.
Finally, hummingbirds need clean water for both drinking and bathing, even though nectar provides most of their hydration. They will sip water droplets from leaves or visit shallow water sources to avoid dehydration. They may also occasionally ingest mineral-rich soil, ash, or sand, a behavior known as geophagy, to secure trace elements like calcium and salts.