Hummers!

I don't know about your house, but at mine the hummingbirds are going through almost a 10 oz feeder a day (I've got three feeders out). Most of the birds at our feeders are Ruby Throated Hummingbirds. Reading up on them I learned that these birds migrate each year northward in the Spring from Central America and then back southward in the Fall. Yes, that's right, those tiny little birds fly all the way across the Gulf of Mexico. Amazing huh?

The peak of their southward migration is right about now (late August and early September). By now almost all of the birds at the feeders around here are migrating through from farther north, and not the same birds we watched this summer. Some of the birds migrating south are immature birds that hatched during the summer. For these newly hatched hummers, there's no memory of past migrations, only an urge to put on a lot of weight and fly. Once a bird learns such a particular route, it may retrace that route every year as long as it lives. Hummers have great memories; that means the birds at your feeder will return again and again to your yard if you put your feeders up each year and keep them up until the migration is over.

Male hummingbirds are very aggressive; I love to watch them dive and zoom at one another. A male will set up his territory chase off any other male that comes near. This is mostly about food, but it also helps the male hummers eliminate the competition for the female hummingbirds in the area. Male hummingbirds will also attack a female hummingbird that enters his territory that he has not mated with. Until she mates with him, the male will continually chase her away. After the female mates with him, she will be allowed to roam his territory and feed at his feeder freely. Sounds pretty fair to me!

Oh, and about the so-called "fights," don't worry - no one usually gets hurt. They are mostly just aerial dogfights with a lot of buzz and bravado and very little actual contact. I shot the short video above with my iPhone this evening. I almost got run into several times and the five birds swarming around me must've wondered what I was doing, but it was fun to be right there in the action. Enjoy! (P.S. You can see the video better by clicking on it and viewing it directly at YouTube).