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Males Monopolizing Feeders (1 Viewer)

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beckster

beckster
I have five feeders, all of which are zealously guarded by male rubythroats. I hung two additional feeders, hoping to give some of the females an opportunity to feed. Darned if the new feeders aren't being guarded now (24 hours later).So I have two questions for the learned contributors out there...
1) Does the male monopoly provide any adaptive or ecological function?
2) Is there some way to position or hide feeders so that female or other hummers have a better chance of feeding?
I eagerly await all comments!
 
beckster said:
I have five feeders, all of which are zealously guarded by male rubythroats.
Click to expand...

While I have only 2 feeders out, I don't find them to be monopolized by any particular sex. One day it's one hummer guarding one of the feeders another day it's a different one. Sometimes a male, but usually a female. There are just too many birds trying to get to the feeders for one bird to be able to guard them all day long. They actually share at times. This time of year it's hard to tell the immatures from the females.

Try to keep your feeders out of sight of each other. This will stop any one bird from being able to control more than one feeder.

Good luck!
 
1) There are undoubtedly solid evolutionary reasons why hummingbirds are so aggressive, and exhibit behavior that would be quite rude by human standards. Beyond that, I think all we have is speculation as to why.

2) I don't know that hiding works, males will find the feeders just as easily as females. My personal observation is that the most "equal opportunity" single feeders are the ones farthest from the nearest cover where the hummingbird likes to hang out when not feeding. If the feeder is 50 - 100 feet from the nearest desirable tree or bush, it is less likely to be consistently defended than one 10-20 feet away. A better alternative might be to put all your feeders in a row with each spaced only a few feet apart and close to good cover. Some hummingbird sites in Costa Rica that I saw used this principal quite successfully, and attracted swarms of humminbirds of diverse species, sizes and genders, all getting their meals, albeit with a lot of skirmishing. Opposite approaches to solving the problem of setting up feeders that each lead to individually guarded territories.

Have fun! :bounce:
 
when I startout the hummingbird season I spread my feeders out all over the yard when bully season comes I put them all in the same area, and force them to deal nicely with the others if they expect any bird juice
 
beckster said:
I have five feeders, all of which are zealously guarded by male rubythroats. I hung two additional feeders, hoping to give some of the females an opportunity to feed. Darned if the new feeders aren't being guarded now (24 hours later).So I have two questions for the learned contributors out there...
1) Does the male monopoly provide any adaptive or ecological function?
2) Is there some way to position or hide feeders so that female or other hummers have a better chance of feeding?
I eagerly await all comments!
Click to expand...


I live in southern New Mexico and usually only have Black-Chinned hummers from April to the 1st week in July. At that time the Rufous hummers arrive and dominate the feeders. Here's what I do:
Make one feeder a little sweeter (1/8 cup sugar based on 2 cups water) and hang it about one foot higher than the other feeders. The dominant birds will then guard the sweeter, higher feeder. Works for me!

Landy - New Mexico
 
1/8 cup of water based on 2 cups of sugar works out to a MUCH weaker solution than 1:4. That would be 1/4 cup sugar in four cups of water - a much less sweet solution.
And I have never noticed that any one gender has a monopoly on the agression. I have females driving males away right now just as often as the other way around.

Mark
Bastrop, TX
 
humminbird said:
1/8 cup of water based on 2 cups of sugar works out to a MUCH weaker solution than 1:4. That would be 1/4 cup sugar in four cups of water - a much less sweet solution.
And I have never noticed that any one gender has a monopoly on the agression. I have females driving males away right now just as often as the other way around.

Mark
Bastrop, TX
Click to expand...

I'm sorry. I should have stated it more clearly. In addition to the 1:4 ratio, I add 1/16 to 1/8 cup extra sugar to make the sweeter water.

The dominant male rufous of the bunch guards this feeder like a hawk. The other birds (rufous and black-chinned) feed at one of the other three feeders I have up.

BTW, today I had a broad-tailed hummer visit my feeder for a few minutes. This occurs only once or twice a year.

Keep on hummin' Landy
 
As someone else has mentioned, I too have found that no one gender or species dominates. Even the "ruthless" males and females give up trying to chase everybody else off after awhile and all get their chance at a perch and a feed. Even the shier, tiny Calliopes manage to get in when the fracas dies down to a dull roar. ;)
 
Katy Penland said:
As someone else has mentioned, I too have found that no one gender or species dominates. Even the "ruthless" males and females give up trying to chase everybody else off after awhile and all get their chance at a perch and a feed. Even the shier, tiny Calliopes manage to get in when the fracas dies down to a dull roar. ;)
Click to expand...

I know the books say the Calliope is shier, but I have experienced Calliopes being quite aggressive at times during migration.

Mark
Bastrop, TX
 
I'm sure that all the species can be little feists at feeders. I only meant that from what I've observed at our feeders, the Calliopes take a back seat to the (in descending order) Rufous, Black-chinned and Broad-tailed, and usually only duck in when most of the pack is off chasing each other. ;)
 
No concern really. That seems to be the opinion of a number of field guides as well, and yet I have people come to me asking about those little scrappers - the small ones with the striped throat. I guess it is all a question of perspective.

Mark
Bastrop, TX
 
agree with beckster

i would have to say i agree with beckster, at least in my yard. we have 4 feeders spread out across the yard and have so far identified 2 females, 1 juvenile male, and 1 adult male. all ruby throats of course. and the adult male seems to chase away everone (including other birds in his vicinity) from all feeders.
 
I could be mis-remembering, so someone chime in here if they know, but I seem to recall reading that in certain species one gender guards the breeding territory and in other species one gender defends the feeding area/feeders. Wish I could recall where I read that because it went into specifics on which genders of which species had which job. ;)
 
Katy:
In hummingbird species it is VERY unusual for the male to have any role in maintaining or protecting the nest - for most Trochlids once the mating is completed she heads off to set up house keeping and he heads off chasing more skirts. In this sense, he sets up a "breeding territory" and mates with any and every female that enters the territory (or attempts to). She sets up house keeping or a "feeding territory" looking for the greatest resources to support her and the young she will produce. Of course, in the extended sense, he is also setting up a "feeding territory" in that if he selects a territory with optimum food resources, he will be most successful in mating, so he needs to look for optimum food and shelter resources.

Mark
Bastrop, TX
 
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