[Tweeters] Hummingbird Behavior

[Steve Hampton]

There was an over-wintering Rufous Hummer near Port Townsend that was
killed by an Anna's a few weeks ago. When the Rufuos was present, a dozen
hummers would share the feeder. After it was gone, the feeder was ruled by
a single Anna's.



On Fri, Dec 23, 2022 at 9:55 AM creinsch <creinsch at comcast.net> wrote:


> Dayna,

>

> Over the years we have seen hummingbirds do a lot that appeared to us as

> strange.  But, this morning, I saw an adult male Anna's attacking a

> younger (hatch year probably) bird on a feeder.  The feeder has been

> defended by the adult for months, but I had never seen it do this.  From

> my view in the kitchen at about 8am this morning, I could see the

> adult's head on the opposite side of the feeder, but could not make out

> what it was doing.  Walking around to another window though, I could see

> it was on top of a younger bird beating its head with its beak.  The

> immature bird was not moving or defending itself.  I opened the back

> door about, 4 feet from the feeder, but the adult ignored me.  The

> feeder is not in a position that I could reach, so I went and got a yard

> stick, and used that to gently lift up the tail of the adult, which

> startled it, and broke its grip on the smaller bird.  But the smaller

> did not move.  I did the same thing with the yardstick to it, and it

> finally took flight, with the adult in pursuit.   Shortly, the adult

> returned.  Hopefully the younger one found one of our other, less

> defended, feeders.

>

> We've seen mating, it is noisy, but very brief, generally with the two

> birds spiraling toward the earth or into a bush.

>

> It has been years since I thought about Ardrey's "amity-enmity

> complex".  Where, at one point, he proposes that environmental hazards

> might promote cooperation (amity) among a given species, here it seems

> we may be seeing it doing just the opposite.  Well, unlike penguins,

> hummingbirds live relatively short solitary lives, and they are fiercely

> territorial.

>

> Chuck Reinsch

> Magnolia

>

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-- 
​Steve Hampton​
Port Townsend, WA  (qatáy)
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