There was a recent discussion about this behavior observed by a few
'tweets' a few weeks ago but I had never before actually seen such until
yesterday. I routinely have about 8 or so Anna's Hummingbirds, males and females,
all winter and year long and typically are the most conspicuously
persistent birds present from dawn to dusk each and every day. Most of the time,
they all seem to get along okay. Of course there's all the usual 'sparing'
and chasing about which just seems normal. No harm inflicted or done, or
ever done as near as I can tell.

However, and before yesterday, I had never actually seen a hummingbird
sitting on the ground in all the countless hours I've spent watching them. At
first, I just thought it was perhaps due to the pouring rain. Then, I
realized there were two, one female and I'm not sure about the other, female I
think, but not sure. It happened so fast and I didn't have the bins handy
as I just by chance merely spotted them in a quick passing glance out the
kitchen window. The two were sitting on the ground (yard) about 10" apart
just below my smallest feeder (often most popular), each crouched facing
each other, head and bill swaying back and forth in a seemingly threatening
posture. "Just try and get near me" it seemed to suggest. This lasted for
all of about 5-6 seconds, then both flew off together in a tangling spiral
of aggression, and they were gone.

Richard Rowlett
Bellevue (Eastgate), WA