Slow Learner....?? (1 Viewer)

Wednesday of this week apparently the dominant male Ruby-Throated hummingbird of my feeder took flight leaving the feeder domain up for grabs. Thursday morning I noted a new ruler of the roost. It was seemingly a little more tolerant of trespassers to a degree, but not much.

I immediately noticed something quite curious however and that was that the hummer was not feeding via the yellow flowers on the feeder. It appeared to be going round and round the feeder lapping, if you will, the areas where the perch came into contact with the main feeder. I suppose there must be obvious seepage and dripping in minute amounts from the yellow flowers when the hummers are feeding through them. This hummer is almost continually at the feeder and has been for the last two days.

Due to size I could not post them here, but I have posted a couple of videos of this hummer doing his thing on a webpage of my little website if you would like to take a look. Again I am curious if anyone else has observed such behavior? Even though other hummers have been at the feeder briefly when he was there, it seems he just doesn’t get it!

I would guess that your feeder leaks and this hummer is finding enough nectar on the outside to satisfy his needs. If this is true, I wouldn't qualify the bird as a slow learner. Rather, he has already learned how to get nectar from this particular "flower", and thus has no need to investigate it more.