[dataway]

We have a couple of feeders out and these Hummingbirds don't seem to be able to get along. Lots and lots of fighting. Watched two of them grab each other, fall and hit the porch, off the porch onto the ground where they continued to grapple for five seconds.

I hung them up for a peaceful, interesting experience while we have dinner on the back porch ... starting to reconsider this

[Half-Inch Stud]

Never seen thaat. Only seen about 1 hummingbird/week so far. Maybe the red fluid is boring.

[Radman]

Hummingbirds are known for fighting each other. Especillay if there is only one feeder nearby.

[Steve C.]

Bully Hummingbirds! How to Reduce Aggression and Aggressive Males

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7X8G_ejvM4

Should I Use Red Food Coloring In Hummingbird Food?

There is absolutely no reason to add any red dyes to hummingbird sugar water. After all, natural flower nectar is clear, and hummingbird feeders have colorful parts that attract hummingbird regardless of the color of the sugar water.

Sheri Williamson of the Southeastern Arizona Bird Observatory (SABO), and author of A Field Guide to Hummingbirds and Attracting and Feeding Hummingbirds, writes, “The bottom line is that ‘instant nectar’ products containing artificial coloring are at best a waste of your hard-earned money and at worst a source of disease, suffering, and premature death in hummingbirds.”

Make your own nectar. 4 to 1 ratio.
Four cups water and one cup regular sugar.


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[5th TA]

Interesting video Steve, we have several feeders and lots of humming bird friendly plants on our deck. Love watching these amazing creatures.

[Steve C.]

Another tid bit.....

In nature hummingbirds prefer to have some open sky above them when feeding. The porch is a popular place to hang one or more feeders. Suggestion, hang them from an overhead gutter, awning or roofline.
Not under the porch itself. This way 'half' the feeder is open to the sky.
Example, here during the busy Fall migration I have three feeders up at the edge of my back patio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03Nsap-YDkM


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[Bob Dillon]

They're extremely territorial. Sit back and enjoy the show.

[67drake]

Originally Posted by Half-Inch Stud

Never seen thaat. Only seen about 1 hummingbird/week so far. Maybe the red fluid is boring.

I’ve found the best way to attract them is to keep the sugar water fresh. I change it once a week, and rinse out their feeders to keep it clean. I don’t bother with the red store bought stuff. I just mix 3 to 4 parts water to 1 part sugar. I also use 2 feeders, as they are territorial little buggers.

[fyrffytr1]

Another tip. Space your feeders at least 10 feet apart. I put four feeders out but they are placed around my yard. There will be a dominant bird at each feeder.
I use sugar water but this feeder is red colored.

[Sirrotica]

At my house in Erie, (1992-2001) we built in a 200 acre woods, we had scads of HB there, and they would fight to the death. I occasionally would find a dead bird in the flower bed in front of the porch, where the feeder was.

When they hit each other, it sounds like hitting 2 sticks together, it makes a sharp crack. Very territorial, as I witnessed.

We don't have nearly as many trees at my current house in Ohio as the one in Erie, some hummers, but nowhere near the number in the woods at the Erie house.

Here we have tons of carpenter bees, I'm making and putting up the traps made from old peanut jars with the 4X4 screwed to the top of the jar with holes bored into them for entry, and no escape. So far in only 2 traps have easily 30 dead bees. I need to make about 50 traps to hang out here as we also have a bumper crop of wood peckers that drill into the structural wood to get the carpenter bee larvae, I have some wood that looks like swiss cheese from the wood peckers.

[tooski]

I have two spaced about 20' apart. They are on hangers I made to extend the feeders away from the deck. Very often there will be an hbird perched on a hanger guarding it's territory. Sometimes one each staring at each other. Very occasionally there will be two birds feeding at one of the feeders. Otherwise a bit of hbird wars.

[tooski]

When we were in Roatan we hung up a feeder. When they were feeding, always four at a time at the feeder while a bunch of others were waiting their turn. No wars.

[carcrazy]

I have been feeding Hummingbirds for more than 20 years. Generally I have between 6-12 birds in an area. Great entertainment!!

[Stuart]

When I was a kid I was sitting out on our front porch one day next to the hummingbird feeder. Two males were having a dogfight. One dive-bombed the other, missed him, and got his beak stuck in the window screen. After a few seconds he shook himself loose from the screen and fell on the porch floor. He laid there stunned for a little while, before finally shaking his head and flying away.

[BOB VIDAN]

A few years ago my daughter was visiting with her dog. The dog ran out in the backyard and was like on point in the long grass. We went down to see what was there and it was a baby hummingbird. Wife used some soft papers and got the bird into a small make to shelter with a small chair and cover from the heat. Over a few days she and the mother hummingbird nursed the baby to where it could almost fly. Then one day we watched as the baby flew to a cyclone fence and just stayed on the fence as the mother bird continued to feed it. Finally after a few hours the baby was able to fly away. A moment in life both of us will always remember.

[wheels]

We get a few hbirds here. In 2018 there was a hbird that was sitting on the feeder and it was asleep. I could have picked it up but didn't want to disturb it and scare the crap out of it. When they travel long distances they get very tired and go into a type of comatose state for up to a couple of hours.

[dataway]

OK, my feeders are hung just inside the gutter line, about one foot from the edge of the roof, I'll try hanging them from the edge of the gutter. The porch roof is only about 12" over their head where they are hung now.

They empty both our feeders about every two days. Seems to be about a half dozen using them two of them. So far it mostly seems to be males chasing away females, although yesterday we saw a male and female being peaceful at the same time.

We mix up our own 4:1 stuff, way cheaper than buying the stuff.

[Steve C.]

Hummingbird torpor

What is torpor? Torpor is the hummingbird version of hibernation. The sleep-like state allows them to conserve their energy by lowering their body temperature. Some drop 50° below their normal 102°-104° temperature. In conjunction with a lowered body temperature, their heart rate also becomes sluggish.

How long can a hummingbird stay in torpor?
And they found that the duration of their torpor varied as well—from five to 10 hours. The researchers noted that the longer the birds remained in a torpor, the lower their loss of body mass. They fed on stored fat to keep just warm enough to stay alive.

They go into a torpor at night clinging into a branch. Not feeding all night when they come out of their torpor they need to feed right away. This is why you typically see quite a bit of hummingbird activity at feeders in the early morning. Then heavy feeding again in the evening before they go into their torpor.

[Mr Anonymous]

I thought you mean the Hummingbird that JJ Da Boss is driving. It has been in a few fights as well.

[dataway]

Hummingbird Torpor sounds like what happens to me when I have two bottles of wine at dinner.