Off The Beaten Path

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Georgia, United States
Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some people move our souls to dance. They awaken us to new understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom. Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon. They stay in our lives for awhile, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never ever the same.

Thursday, August 7

Hummingbirds

About dusk I went out on the porch and decided to get a few winks of shuteye......the hummingbirds had other ideas. I suppose my neighbors either have quit feeding them, or have old sour nectar in their feeders, because all of a sudden I have about eight hummer where yesterday only two or three were in residence. The problem with that many hummers, they are NOT social. They are very territorial and the don't take kindly to their neighbors coming over for "tea."

I have one hummingbird that nests here. She has built her nest in the backyard hickory for the past several years. So tonight when the others came she was very distressed. She took a perch on a limb of the Japanese Maple and she stood guard. She was trying to protect her territory and four feeders that she rightfully consider to be her very own. So the back yard was an ariel show of darting, chirping, buzzing hummers. Hummingbirds are not quiet, they make a very high pitched chirping noise, and she was zipping this way and that chirping, batting, sailing, careening and trying her best to out maneuver the other hummers. For all I know she might just have a clutch of eggs in her nest.

No one was getting much to eat....they were doing way to much fighting. It seems that when you have FIVE feeders that at least five could eat. But that isn't the way it works with hummers, the dominant hummers tries to protect them all, no matter how many feeders are present. She was running herself ragged trying to keep the other birds from getting any food. It was comical, but it kept me from getting that nap.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe you want to mix up a gallon of sugar water and take it over to your neighbor's and fill their feeders. ;)

Bill ~ {The Old Fart} said...

Nea you want to have less exciting events if you want to take a nap. I always thought that Humming Birds never stopped flying. I always found this funny as I know they need to nest to hatch their eggs.

I think Quilly has the right idea, this way you get to rest and the Humming Bird that nests in your Japanese Maple will get some rest as well.

Take Care.

Burfica said...

I had a little hummingbird family that nested in my tree down at the other lot.

the thing I said I would miss most about down there was going to be my hummingbird family. The last year we were in there they didn't show up. I was sad, but maybe it was gods or the universes way of telling me to go.

I moved up here, hoping to see humming birds (I don't have any tree's in this lot yet) and all over the neighborhood the first month there was humming birds.

All the neighbors said they had never seen them before. I like to think they were there for me. hehehehehe

Dr.John said...

If humming birds can't get along is there any hope for humans?

Libby said...

dr john, that's an EXCELLENT question!! I think i remember a quote from an old book, "birds in their little nests agree"...doesn't seem like they were talking about hummingbirds, hmmm?