[Birdtalk] Hummingbird Behavior

[ConnieM]

I don't have any answers for you, but I also have seen a similar behavior.
 Last summer, there was one Hummingbird (species unknown) that I named Kirby
who guarded both feeders I had up in the yard.  I don't know how he found
time to eat.  He would perch in a tree that gave him a good lookout to two
feeders, and as soon as some poor unsuspecting hummer would come to feed,
Kirby would chase the other one off even though he had to go all the way
across the yard to do it.  It was quite amusing to watch him tackle 2 other
hummers one day.  One would go to a feeder, Kirby would chase him off,
usualy involving and a couple of laps around the house.  Then another bird
would come to another feeder and Kirby was off again.  The thing that was so
amusing is with all his effort in driving off the other hummers, Kirby
didn't seem to get much food while the others would enjoy a good sip of
nectar.  I wondered if the 2 didn't work together so one could eat while the
other kept Kirby busy.  It was amusing to watch, but I felt kinda bad for
Kirby.
ConnieM


On Fri, Apr 24, 2009 at 5:10 PM, Jason Pietrzak <pietrzak at gmail.com> wrote:

> I left Moab for a week and now that I've returned, I'm pleased to see
> that we now have a lot of Black-chinned Hummingbirds, not just one. We
> have at least 2 of each sex, but probably more, it's kinda hard to
> tell. Here's a question for you all:
>
> I've seen a male stake-out an area and ruthlessly defend it from other
> males, but I have now witnessed both males and females attacking other
> males and females. I just saw one female attacking both a male and a
> female who were attempting to join her at the feeder. Can anybody shed
> more light on this behavior? Is it possible that mating pairs are
> working together to keep away competitors?
>
> Jason Pietrzak
> Moab, UT
> _______________________________________________
> Birdtalk mailing list
> Birdtalk at utahbirds.org
> http://utahbirds.org/mailman/listinfo/birdtalk
>



-- 
Connie McManus
Nibley, Cache County, Utah
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://secureserver.securesites.net/pipermail/birdtalk/attachments/20090425/26b79b5e/attachment.htm