San Miguel de Allende, hummingbird refuge

Published May 5th, 2022

San Miguel de Allende is home to nine species of one of the most beautiful and smallest birds in the world, which is exclusive to the Americas, so many locals and foreigners seek to have a space for them to visit them in their homes.

In their gardens or on their terraces they put water troughs for these small birds to drink the nectar they prepare for them; the hummingbird has a lot of history and several legends in Mexico since they are represented by Huitzilopochtli or “Colibrí Zurdo” and many have the belief that they are the messengers of the people who have already departed.

Hummingbirds live exclusively in the American continent and there are around 340 different species, the smallest can weigh less than 2 grams and the largest, 20 grams and in San Miguel de Allende we can see 9 of them.

Being among the smallest birds, they hold the record for flying stationary for 30 seconds and are the only ones that fly backward or sideways.

Currently, many people buy a liquid called hummingbird nectar in red color, Sergio Diaz Infante Maldonado, a biologist at FES Iztacala UNAM, commented that obviously, the presence of dyes is generally not good, many of these dyes that come to be used can become toxic and the ideal is simply water with sugar.

He also commented that another of the things that are included are preservatives, “we would have to see what kind of preservatives they are using to know how good they are or not, which is the difference between when one prepares the nectar one must be aware that it does not ferment and this depends mainly on the temperature and the place where the drinker is placed, it can ferment in 3 days or in one, depending on the heat”.

From the end of October to March or April there is the presence of migratory hummingbirds such as the black-bearded hummingbird, and ruby-throated hummingbird, these migratory hummingbirds that come from the northern United States or the rufous hummingbird that comes from Alaska or Canada, are much more accustomed to the use of the drinking troughs, perhaps because the culture of the drinking troughs there is very broad.

When the hummingbirds arrive in San Miguel since there are also foreigners and with that habit, it is easy for them to reach those areas, the resident species that are there all year round learn very quickly and look for them in the same way, but it is important to give them an equal portion of sugar for four portions of water and to change it every third day.

Diaz Maldonado commented that the plants that one can have at home are those that have bright and strong colored flowers, for example red, blue, and purple attract the hummingbird more.

Lighter-colored flowers such as white or yellow are not as attractive, although this rule is not always followed. The other is that many of the flowers they like to visit have a distinctive shape instead of being a completely open flowers, they are elongated or tubular flowers, so when the hummingbird arrives it can stick its beak in and that is when pollination takes place.

Many of these flowers are specialized to attract hummingbirds and depend on them for pollination; sometimes it is complicated to have native or wild plants because they require very particular conditions.

In the nurseries sometimes they already sell some plants that are not wild, but that the hummingbirds can visit, some of them can be salvias, aretillos, muicle, espinosilla, myrtle which is one of the easiest plants to have and that is why hummingbirds also call them chupamirto.

In San Miguel there are nine different species and all of them can be seen in El Charco del Ingenio because of its wide territorial extension and richness in native flora that helps pollination, such as the spinosilla or myrtle, as well as the flowers of the cactus or mesquite that attract hummingbird species.

Charco del Ingenio staff made a record of the hummingbirds that visit the site, although they can also be seen flying in urban areas where there are drinking fountains.

The 9 species recorded living in San Miguel de Allende are white-eared sapphire, Lucifer hummingbird, broad-billed hummingbird, Violet-crowned hummingbird, blue-throated hummingbird, ruby-throated hummingbird, black wattled hummingbird, broad-tailed hummingbird, rufous hummingbird.

Sergio Díaz commented that hummingbirds are territorial when there is enough food somewhere, the bird will generate its territory there or subway and will defend it, as long as the flowers or the watering hole provide enough energy to sustain itself.

Also to identify a male from a female one must pay attention to the colors, an example is a broad-billed hummingbird, the male is dark green but the throat is very strong blue and the beak is very red, the female is a greenish tone but grayer and has no bright whitish feathers that change with the light.

Generally, the males are brighter in color and only when they are adults, this also helps them to attract females in mating season; while the female is duller in color as well as the young, this is not a general rule, but for most species it is.

The reason for this is that the female is the only one who takes care of the eggs when she lays them, so being opaque she gets lost in the shade of the trees so as not to be seen by predators.

A hummingbird lives about 3 years, which is a lot for such a small bird, as larger birds can live only 1 year; there is a record of a magnificent hummingbird that lived up to 13 years.

“Hummingbirds, at night and especially when it is very cold or there is little food in the area, go into a state called Torpor, which is to reduce the beating of their heart from 1200 to 30 times per minute and that helps them to conserve energy,” said Sergio Diaz Infante.

“Without a doubt, hummingbirds are animals that many people are attracted to, but having drinking fountains is a great responsibility, always using sugar water, cleaning drinking fountains, but having a garden for hummingbirds is ideal and you can combine it, but always being careful not to affect their health, since they will make us aware of nature care”, concluded Díaz Infante Maldonado.