We witnessed similar tolerance this morning (at about the same time) as well. A male, that normally body slams any raiders to his feeder, quietly joining a female. It lasted less than 10 minutes, though. Once they had recharged the bickering resumed. I hesitate to bring it up, but anyone remember Ardrey's "amity-enmity" complex? (in this case temporarily setting aside territoriality when it is more important to get the metabolism jump started).

chuck reinsch, magnolia, seattle, washington, creinsch at kdna.org


----- Original Message -----
From: Vicki King
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Friday, January 12, 2007 9:25 AM
Subject: [Tweeters] Tolerance at the hummingbird feeder


This morning was a first at one of our hummingbird feeders. We had brought them in last night so the hummers would have sugar water rather than sugar ice this morning. We put them out around 7, when it was still quite dark. We kept an eye on the one in the backyard as it grew lighter. By 7:20, four hummers were at the feeder, simultaneously. Not only that, but instead of the usual "sip and run," they stayed there, feeding quietly for several minutes. None of the typical attacks. We speculated it was their first meal of the day and getting nourishment was a higher priority than having the feeder to themselves.

While those four were at the backyard feeder, a male was at the one in the front yard -- making five at once. The male seems to have the exclusive use of the front yard feeder (which is not visible from the backyard) although he and/or other males also use the backyard feeder.

It's a luxury to watch these avian dynamics from our warm house.

Vicki King, Seattle



------------------------------------------------------------------------------


_______________________________________________
Tweeters mailing list
Tweeters at u.washington.edu
http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters