A Humming Drama...
...or Hummer Harassment, or the Rufous Rumble
A solitary hummingbird, (we’ll call him Hummer 1 or H1) sits on a branch watching intently. Watching for intruders. Theft is about to happen, and he has to stay vigilant. Another hummer (H2) flies up to the bright red feeder, freshly refilled with sugar water, and before there is a brief moment to sip, H2 is dive-bombed from the side by H1, who was watching from the nearby branch. The back-and-forth showdown happens so rapidly, that you lose track of which hummer is which. Both opponents maneuvering left, right, backward, forward, even momentarily upside down, micro movement dog-fighting with instantaneous precision. The fight doesn’t often come to physical blows, but it can happen, body slamming, clawing, and locking bills together, spinning out, neither letting go, until they both hit the ground. Yes, it sometimes comes to this. A fight to the death, but not often.
While that battle is happening, a third hummer (you got it, H3) sneaks in for a sip, gaining a little before the first two are after him now also. Add in Hummers 4-6 or more and you’ve got a full-blown sugar-bar brawl happening. High-pitched whistles from wing beats and tail feathers shoot by with Doppler effects, low to high to low, as they pass by your peaceful brunch out on the deck at nearly 30 miles an hour. Watch your head!
This is the only bird that can fly as deftly as a Dragonfly, or Bumblebee, but is still a bird. The joint that meets the wing to their body can rotate 180 degrees and their wing structure is mostly ‘hand’ bones that can maneuver the whole wing to curve, rotate, figure-8, and flutter at blinding speeds. The only maneuver they can’t do is to soar on open wings like the other birds.
You might mistake the sound, but these aren’t happy little toddlers singing at a Sugar - I mean, Birthday - Party. This is war, especially in the early summer breeding season. For all their adorable exteriors, hummingbirds are the chihuahuas of the bird world. Tiny, but mighty.
There is somewhat of an exception to this rule though, and it is this time of year. Late summer, with breeding season over, and fledglings added to the numbers, they join, like most of the other wildlife, the striving to gain as much body fuel as they can for the long migration south to Mexico and other parts of South America, to come. This time of year, you might see more hummers at your feeders and just a wee bit more cooperation as they don’t want to expend all the food energy they just gained. It is a short time of tolerance.
So little, and so loved, we humans are fascinated by their petite looks and the shine from not only the pigment colors in their feathers but also the specialized structural feathers that glint with iridescence in the sunlight depending on the angle you see them. They will purposefully face the sun in their mating dance in order to show off their spangle. Thankfully, hummer feathers are no longer used to make cloaks for kings or decorate hats for wealthy women in Europe. Uhuh…
We agonize over our Hummer food concoctions and keeping the feeder clean and mold-free. (1 cup white sugar, 4 cups water, boil and let cool.) From May through September here in the Colorado Foothills, social media birding, and photography sites light up with gorgeous pictures of hummers caught in flight, in fight, in fawning, and in ferocious guarding of their territory. Groups, classes, online lessons, articles, and whole vacations, multiply about how to capture these little ‘jewels of the sky’.
Slow motion flying: https://youtube.com/shorts/ulydB0CvFIY
Yes, the hummers that are at your feeder are the same ones day after day that have claimed your feeder as their own. This is the essence of what territory means, their whole half-acre kingdom of it. They know your home. They return each year for their 3-5 year lives. Their young are hatched and raised near you and they know to return to your place. AND if you are the one who fills the feeders, they know YOU. And they will come for you when the feeder is empty. They have chosen this location based on the resources and you, ma’am or sir, have a job to do. You may wonder why they don’t trust that the feeder will be filled again, but evolution has ingrained in them that flowers are very fleeting things. Nectar is a limited resource and it needs to be gained while they can. Life is a battle to be won by the vigilant.
Their other food source is small insects, especially spiders for the babies. Spider silk is used for making a comfortable nest and spiders are rich in the amino acid, taurine, which builds their brain and nervous system growth. With brains larger proportionally than other birds, hummers are some of the most intelligent birds known.
For all this interaction, Hummingbirds are actually solitary creatures. Mamas raise their brood on their own and will chase away all other hummers from the nest. The males do not attach themselves to any particular female for life or even a season. They do put on a massive aerobatic show for a potential mate, shooting over 100 feet in the air and diving at 60mph to show off their stuff for the gals, tail feathers whistling, and their own throat song in a wide variety of sounds. For the gal he impresses, there is a literal 4-second tumble and then he is off again to the competition while she works on her nest for the coming eggs.
Hummingbirds have no knowledge of how to function in cooperation with a flock or how to share resources. Each looks to themselves for survival. They treat each other as threats like songbirds would chase after a hawk. Some males are so aggressive, that they’ve been known to attack decorative hummingbirds. Must be hard on the body to slam into a wooden hummer.
Found only in the Americas, the hummingbird’s internal clock and senses of the season know the time for migration, a time when cooperation would increase survival, but still, they fly alone. Unlike other birds who exceed airline travel altitudes above 33 thousand feet, hummers fly low, just above the treetops in order to replenish food and gain some rest. It’s a long trip from Colorado to Mexico or other parts of South America, but they follow their ancient instincts to get to their destinations. One female Rufous hummer was banded near Tallahassee, FL one winter and by the following summer, she was found in Alaska! They are known to travel over 20 miles a day when actively migrating, this energy output needs some serious bug and sugars input along the way. Keep your feeders out as those hummers north of you may stop for a snack.
All too soon they will be on their way south. We’ll wish them well and clean our feeders and wait eagerly for their return again in May, battles and all.
Sources:
- This is one of the best videos I found to show hummer behavior. Her commentary is excellent as well.
- https://www.worldofhummingbirds.com/behavior.php
- https://birdwatchingbuzz.com/are-hummingbirds-territorial/
- https://abcbirds.org/hummingbirds-101/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummingbird
- Hummers: Hummingbirds of North America, Millie Miller and Cyndi Nelson, 1987, Johnson Books, Boulder
- https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/hummingbird-secrets-speed-worlds-smallest-bird
- All photos and videos are copyright AbertEssays unless otherwise noted.
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