Do Hummingbirds Eat Insects like Ants?

Hummingbirds enjoy eating many insects, but ants are not on their diet. In fact, ants are very detrimental to hummingbirds, as they can share the same source of food, making large quantities of ants take over the hummingbirds’ food supply and starve them off.

Ants and hummingbirds both enjoy sugary food. When they are both living in the same region, the ants will invade and eat the nectar from them. While hummingbirds can supplement their diet by eating other flying insects such as midges or gnats, they can’t live off it.

Nectar provides a lot of sugar that converts into energy, and since hummingbirds use a lot of energy by flapping their wings extremely quickly, they need lots of it.

If you have a bird feeder set up for hummingbirds, ants will try and invade it for food. Many think that the ants inside the bird feeder can be an additional food source, but they won’t eat the ants, though the ants will eat the nectar. To prevent this, try using an especial feeder called an ant moat. Ant moats prevent ants from invading the nectar while also allowing the hummingbirds to feed on it freely.