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The red coloring is so they can charge more for a cheap product. They can sell sugar water for cheap, but throw in some red coloring and slap "nectar" on the label and you have a huge profit maker! Now, the red does serve a purpose and that's to entice a hummingbird to the feeder. Of course, you can do the same with pink or orange food coloring. If the area already has a number of attracting plants, no coloring is necessary. (as an FYI, no studies have linked any harm to hummingbirds from the coloring. the only harm discovered is to people's wallets)
Bright colors signal to the hummingbird that it might be about to find a tasty nectar snack. Red flowers are regularly visited by hummingbirds, and many people use red feeders because they believe hummingbirds won't drink from a feeder of a different color.
So why do hummingbirds flock to the red feeders? Is it the red color? Or could it be that hummingbirds are simply after the good source of energy, not a favorite color? (To test this idea, check out our hummingbird experiment.)https://askabiologist.asu.edu/vision-and-color
I have a red bottomed feeder and make my own. I have the same birds each year and sadly no too many. They come to my door when the feeder is empty, lol.
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