Subject: hummer of a day!
Date: Mar 23 20:31:48 1999
From: Joanne Schmitt - jschmitt at sprintmail.com


Hi Tweets. I just had the most unusual ineraction with hummingbirds. I
have one male Rufous who chases all others from "his" feeder, so I had
put up a second nearby. When I came home from work today, I notice the
dominant male chasing hummers from both feeders..what a pig! So I went
out and moved the second feeder out of sight of the first. Then I stood
still near the original site of the second feeder to watch what would
happen. After a few minutes, four or five hummingbirds circled my head
at eye level and stared at me! One was within inches of my face, and the
others were all with arm's length. They hovered for several seconds,
just staring at me, then flew off to feed on the huckleberry and currant
flowers nearby.
A little later, I was sitting out near the first feeder watching the
dominant male chase others. When the sun went down, the other
hummingbirds mobbed this feeder! There were at least 7 (4 female, 3
male), all trying to avoid the dominant male and get a drink. It was
like being in the middle of a bee swarm. At one point, one of the birds
landed in my hair, just behind my ear to hide from the dominant male. It
rested there for almost a minute before the big male saw it and came
screeching over to chase it away. The big guy actually hit my ear as he
was chasing the other one out of my hair! Then they were all flying
around, using me and the lawn furniture as blinds to try and sneak up and
get a drink. The big male was actually hitting the others when they
would land on the feeder...little feathers went flying. I have been
feeding hummingbirds at the same spot for 10 years and this is the first
time I have had more than 3 or 4 present at once, and certainly the first
time I have been involved in the middle of a melee! What a treat :-)

Joanne Schmitt
jschmitt at sprintmail.com
Poulsbo, WA

"The earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs,
but not every man's greed."
- Mahatma Ghandi