No, this is nothing but a myth. As long as the water troughs are cleaned daily, there is no problem using them to attract and feed hummingbirds, says public health doctor and bird scholar Luiz Fernando Figueiredo, from the Center for Ornithological Studies (CEO), in São Paulo. “The water with sugar in the artificial drinkers does not pose any problem to the hummingbird. This information has been propagated in the past, but it is not true, ”he says.
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The problem can only occur if the hummingbird is raised in captivity and feeds exclusively on sugar water. “In this case, he has a drop in immunity due to malnutrition and can get infections that can lead to death”, says Figueiredo.
In any case, although it is not a “crime” to install a water fountain in the garden, experts recommend not feeding hummingbirds and other wild animals such as tamarins. In addition to discouraging animals from looking for their own food, some types of food, such as candies, chocolate or popcorn, detonate the health of animals. Not to mention that inadequate nutrition can increase the reproduction rate of some animals that live in urban environments, such as pigeons.