Somewhere I Got Idea this Does Not Happen (1 Viewer)

[jeeper]

This is not realy my best photography but it is a grab shot when it happened. I was under the impression that hummers were territorial and didn't share often. Here the last week the RT's have invaded my feeders in numbers I never thought I would see. They have been 12 or more waiting in line and today I had to work but my wife said she completely filled four times to keep them happy. I'm yet to get a pic when the birds are really stalking in large numbers that is postable and would show the real poplulation here now.

I guess we are both hooked now on hummers. I just hope they keep comming back like this every year for more.

 

[Curtis Croulet]

They are territorial, but it breaks down when lots of them are present. Just look at FrankJ's photos. Even with the paltry few that I have, I've seen three sit down in temporary peace at a HummZinger Mini.

 

[Hummer]

Hummers are far more tolerant during migration, because they are not defending their territory.

 

[Spica]

Yes, I am seeing the exact same thing! Unfortunately, these peaceful moments don't last long. There are always some who would rather fight...

 

[Tero]

Eat first, fight later. Just like people.

 

[Jay23]

Envy!

Can I just say that as a European Birder I'm sick with envy!

 

[Frankj]

Around here they share and fight at the same time . . .

 

[Spica]

They are just like little kids. That's why we like them so much...

 

[Hummer]

Can I just say that as a European Birder I'm sick with envy!

Don't feel bad Chris, I'll bet your not envious of Earthquakes are you?

 

[jeeper]

Don't feel bad Chris, I'll bet your not envious of Earthquakes are you?

Nor our hurricanes either. I'm due tropical strom winds overnight or in the morining here. I'm far enough from the coast that I normally feel little to nothing from storms also. Now in tornado season things change here.

 

[humminbird]

I hope you are as lucky as we seem to have been jeeper - 72 hours ago they were saying we would have the eye pass right over us, now we have a little mild winds but that is it. Tie things down anyway and stay safe.

Mark
Bastrop, TX

 

[jeeper]

The center passed a little west of me but I'm not quite sure how close. Winds have been extremely high all day here and power has been out from about 4am till around 5:30pm so the local wind gauge was unavailable. Ft Polk maybe 45miles south-southwest recorded gusts to 50+ miles per hour.

Why such a detailed description? During the day with all the wind and higher gusts what was going on was of interest. Someone asked the other day about storms and hummers well now I know what they do, they feed on my feeders. At one time I had some 8 or 9 birds all hitting the one that the wind didn't tip and empty. What do I do. of course I put on a poncho run out and get other fill and return for them.

BTW so far I have seen some shingle damage on my house and a good bit of limb damage. I hope the insurance company totals my roof I could use another one. I built here some 29 years ago and am on third roof now. The original one along with all the glass on front was removed by a hail storm and the replacement failed due to faulty materials. Things could have been worse so I guess I've been blessed.

 

[zerb21]

Jeeper and Humminbird, it's good to learn that you're doing OK, and hopefully things will improve soon for all those who've had to deal with the recent hurricanes. I don't think anyone who has not experienced a hurricane can fully comprehend how powerful they are. I definitely don't want find out for myself.

We'll continue to contribute to relief efforts through the Red Cross and Salvation Army. My next door neighbor Doug, who also feeds hummingbirds, is an MP in the National Guard and has been sent down to the Gulf Coast. He's a great guy and we should all be thankful for people like him.

Anyway, around here we don't see as many humminbirds at once as you. When we do they usually fight, but sometimes tolerate each other.

For next summer, my teenage son is planning a family trip to California. When he asks me where I want to go, I say I want to go to Frank's house.

Bruce

 

[MBP]

Great images, zerb21! :clap: I really like those action shots, they are so hard to get!

 

[humminbird]

Zerb:
Thanks for the good wishes but we were very fortunate here - 24 hours before it came ashore we were pretty sure it was going east and, when it did come ashore we did not get a drop of rain out of it - just some wind.
Could sure use some rain now though!

Mark
Bastrop, TX

 

[wings]

FrankJ's photos never fail to amaze me. You ought to see his website where you can see a row of feeders and hummingbirds literally coming out of "your ears"

 

[Missy]

I just noticed the hummingbirds sharing the feeder yesterday. They are also flying around, at times, at about knee level and perching very low to keep an eye on the feeder. We have 4 boys who use our back yard feeder. They all showed up and swarmed the patio today. I'm very impressed with the above pictures of the massive amounts of hummers around the feeders.
Here's two of my guys.

 

[photo_luver]

What ive found is that there are usually 2 or 3 females at the feeder out at our lake (since im in the city) and once a male comes along they all go into the trees..

You think theyll come back next summer? and if they do i hope more come

They would come to the feeder in 5 minute intervals and usually would be one female then a male would come from over the roof and chase her outta there lol..

Really funny as this was last summer around july/august

Garrett

 

[jaxmtn]

I noticed the same thing at our feeder. The females are willing to tolerate other females at the feeder, but when a male shows up, he drives the other hummers away. The male parks in a nearby tree and guards the feeder, driving away all other hummers that come around. Here's a shot of two RT females at our feeder.

 

[humminbird]

In years of watching hummingbirds I have never noticed any gender differentiation as far as protecting a feeder is concerned - I have seen females protect the feeder as fiercely if not more so than males.