We have had 8 hummingbirds around our deck at the feeders since early June,
at times all at once. Well, they have nested and fledged young and tonight we
counted a certain 19 birds. The juveniles are fairly easy to tell with their
juvenile plumage and shorter bills. Amazingly they all get along pretty well.
They all chase each other but it appears to be tag. There is one male that
tries to dominate the crowd, but it is too much for him to keep up with and all
the rest just ignore him or try to get him to play. We have an 8oz window
feeder and a 16 oz hanging feeder and a 32 oz hanger and they all have to be
filled
daily. The 16 oz feeder is flying saucer shaped and has 8 flowers on it. Alot
of the time all the perches are full and a couple of birds are on the hanging
rod waiting to get on. We planted a 3 stem river birch off the corner of the
deck by this feeder this spring and its not unusual to see 5-6 birds perched
in it. Tonight my son had a soda straw in his mouth with some red salvia flower
petals stuck in the other end and had several birds try to get nectar out of
the flowers while the other end was in his mouth. A couple of birds landed on
the straw. Getting within 1 ft of them seems to push their comfort zone. I'm
not sure what size territory hummingbirds have and I couldn't track any of
their flights to nests-it was just to confusing. But they seem to share this
eat
out restaurant space very well. It gets pretty wild and buzz-bomby out on the
deck but then the performers are drinking all the sugar water they want all day
long so I shouldn't be surprized. Dave White
Zion Crossroads
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