Hummingbirds Are Here!
a rare moment of sitting at the feeder
When our hummingbird feeder hung unvisited by the little avian beauties for a couple weeks, I thought that maybe they were not going to return to our yard this summer. But, several days ago, my husband noticed a hummer at the feeder. Soon, there was competition for the male ruby throated hummer, so it was time to hang the second feeder. The birds are very territorial and tend to guard “their” feeder and not let others near it. The feeder in the front yard has been claimed by a male so I hung a second feeder in the back yard and that one is guarded by a female. Of course other hummers try and do succeed at getting to the feeder.
This makes for some interesting tactical maneuvers and chase scenes. There is never a dull moment when the hummingbirds are around. Although hummingbirds are very fast fliers, they have the unique ability to hover for long periods of time which makes it a little easier to get a picture of them.
moving in to the feeder
flying in reverse away from feeder
hovering while feeding
just hovering
To learn more about how hummingbirds hover, go to Mo Castandi’s post on the subject.
For feeding hummingbirds, I follow the Hummingbird Society’s guidelines of using a 1 part pure cane sugar to 4 parts water. For more information, click on the link to go the website.
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