Hi Tweets,

Now that our blueberries have been ripe for the past few of weeks, we have had Anna?s Hummingbirds working over our blueberry bushes. Also, many Back?capped and Chestnut-backed Chickadees, while feeding on the fruit, make a very nice nectary through the blueberry skin.

At first we wondered if the Hummingbirds were feeding on small insects in the bushes, but insects have not been observed.

Then we wondered if the Anna beak is strong enough to pierce the blueberry skin to feed.

Our final hypothesis is that the Anna?s are actually eating the sweet blueberry juice and pulp from the nectary that the chickadees created when feeding on the blueberries.

Are there any other ideas or observations of this behavior?

Don and Sandi McVay
dmcvay at cmc.net
Queen Anne, Seattle