The last two years, I've been trying to attract hummingbirds to my front
yard. Over that time, I've never seen one (and yes, I did change the
nectar and clean the feeder!). I was planning on putting the feeder away,
but since it was pointed out that Anna's live here year-round, I decided
to relocate the feeder to my backyard near the seed feeder.

It only took a day before we saw our first hummer! Wow! Yesterday I stood
on my deck about 4 feet from the feeder (the chickadees didn't seem to
mind), very still, for about 20 minutes, watching the perching female
anna's in the nearby bush. Just when I was about to go back inside, she
flew over by the feeder, then to me, hovering inches from my face. What a
thrill *that* was! She finally flew away over the house.

Now I see a male has found the feeder and is hanging around. He's a lot
more vocal than the female. I have a few questions:

Do hummers form mating pairs? I understand they're very territorial. Will
a male and a female coexist OK?

Are they usually so inquisitive?

(rhetorical) Why did they ignore the feeder in my front yard for 2 years
and punce on it when I moved it out back?

Also, has anyone else noticed a LOT of dark-eyed juncos lately? The bushes
around my house are swarming with them and more seem to arrive every
day. I hardly saw any last year.

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> Mike Cummings | "What is wanted is not the will to believe, <
> mook at drizzle.com | but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite." <
> ICQ #34152632 | -- Bertrand Russell <
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