Real life game of angry birds

[David LaPell]

On Saturday my wife and I were getting ready to head out for the day when she looked out the window and told me the hummingbirds at the feeder were acting strangely. I had my camera so I went out to take a look. Knowing that hummingbirds are fiercely territorial what I saw was that one was guarding the feeders from others approaching. They were buzzing around so much that they didn't even pay any attention to me, but I did have to back up. At one time I had four out there and it looked like an aerial dogfight with all of them buzzing, diving and running into one another (which reminds you of hitting a wooden fence post with a weed wacker. I did get a picture, though not a great one, of one hummingbird getting tangled with another, knocking it to the ground only a few feet in front of me and pinning it there for a few seconds. I ended up moving one feeder farther away and I got a third one this morning. They did let me get some great pics though.

 

[Bullet Bob]

"Tho' Nature, red in tooth and claw"

Tennyson

 

[loutent]

We have noticed similar behavior around our feeder - they are fierce little birds.

Nice opportunistic pics!

 

[shouldazagged]

Great shots. Fascinating little birds, and not just nectar-sippers. They're known to eat small insects too.

 

[the ringo kid]

Agree, great shots. Also, by the threads title--I figuredthat your birds might have been feeding on Zombie flesh (like in Final Destination?) and were infected.

Ive always been a fan of those birds too--they used to frequent a few orange and other trees in aour yard back at my childhood home.

 

[italiansport]

Our Hummers like to tank up just before dark and the feeder is in the same general area as our grill. They get somewhat irate with me when I fire up the grill for dinner around this time and I sometimes get divebombed.
I had one cold cock itself on the patio door awhile back. It let it lay there on the patio for about a half hour and it didn't get up and fly. I finally picked it up and it immediately came to life and flew away.
Jim

 

[LVSteve]

I watched one chase a Mockingbird out of one of my trees a few years back. I find they get REALLY mad when I forget to refill the feeder.

 

[rwsmith]

The small things in nature....

The small things in nature seem to get a double dose of aggressiveness to make up for size. Shrews and Chihuahuas come to mind as examples.