Air war on my porch!!

[JB]

I have a lot of hummingbirds at The Hideout. Mostly black chinned hummers and a few rubythroats.<br /><br />They usually start arriving from S. and Central America in April. I feed them until the Texas wildflower explosion starts in mid-April.<br /><br />For about 6 weeks my fields are blue, gold and red, first with flaming paintbrush and bluebonnets, then with the wild gaillardia known locally as indian blanket.<br /><br />By early June the first brood of hummers are on the wing and the wildflowers are down to the meadow pinks and some coneflowers like the purple, Mexican hat and yellow.<br /><br />This is when the air wars commence. <br /><br />Hummingbirds are among the most territorial and aggressive birds there are. I have three pint feeders on my front porch and one on the back porch. About 20 hummers compete to dominate the feeders, mostly on the front porch.<br /><br />Imagine a full scale Kamikaze attack on a carrier force with a large combat air patrol trying to protect it. All participants need to refuel about every 5 minutes.<br /><br />They even sound like tiny propeller aircraft and maneuver like miniature Zeros and Hellcats.<br /><br />The only things missing are antiaircraft fire and losers diving in flames into the sea.<br /><br />I can sit on the porch without interfering. They ignore me except to hover 12-14" from my face, humming fiercely, before zoooooming off to do battle again.<br /><br />Days like this I really wonder why anyone would want to live in a city.

 

[FLATHEAD]

Re: Air war on my porch!!

Cool JB

 

[snapperbait]

Re: Air war on my porch!!

Oh stop it... You are making me green with envy... <br /><br />Sounds like great entertainment...

 

[NOSLEEP]

Re: Air war on my porch!!

I used to get hummingbirds to the feeders when I<br />lived on Vancouver Island. They definatly are one<br />interesting bird to watch.I dont see much of them<br />here in the city like you say JB although it may<br />have something to do with location and elevation?

 

[aspeck]

Re: Air war on my porch!!

Hmmmm, sounds like the 'skeeters here! Only there are more than 20 fightin' for the food source - ME!<br /><br />Can anyone say malaria?!?!?! Come to Ghana for the adventure of a lifetime!

 

[ebbtide176]

Re: Air war on my porch!!

that's a sweet scene JB and it makes me think of a story you might like;<br /><br />my parents get lots of hummingbirds at their place. once, my pop found a hummer confused and unable to get out of the garage. they normally leave the doors open during the daylight hours, but this little guy bounced around and finally came to rest still & dazed on top of a garage door.<br /><br />pop put on a glove and gently picked up the little guy. he was too tired to move, so pop was a little perplexed at leaving him at the mercy of bonnie & clyde, the cats. so he put the tiny bird on the (sweetwater)feeder, helped wrap his tiny toes around the post, and gently stuck his little beak in the access tube to support him. he watched the little bird for a while to ensure he was ok. <br /><br />he seemed to slowly be recovering. within a few minutes, he swelled up the size of a pingpong ball! it was amazing.<br /><br />pop stepped inside for a moment, came back out and the little guy was gone!

 

[neumanns]

Re: Air war on my porch!!

Gotta love them Hummingbirds, we have the rubys here and just moved there feeder yesturday from the kitchen window over to the deck where i set for morning coffee. love that sound but sure freaks out the people who dont know "what the heck was that".

 

[OBJ]

Re: Air war on my porch!!

I bet I can count on both hands the number of "hummers" we see each year. Herself puts out feeders and on occasion we will see one dipping in. Course, things are usually in turmoil around the house during the summer with the grandkids in the pool and such. Probably keeps them away most of the time. Sounds like you got yerself a really neat hideout there JB. Enjoy the hummers.

 

[lakeman1999]

Re: Air war on my porch!!

My hummer feeder is about two feet from me (t'other side of the deck patio door) when I am in my easy chair. It is fun watching them daily, and for repayment for my feeding them, I imagine my garden vegetables,fruit trees, catalpa trees and flowers are much more productive because of their pollinating them as they visit around the property.

 

[JB]

Re: Air war on my porch!!

Thanks for the story about your Dad and the hummer, EBB. I have always had a special like for the tiny buzzers.<br /><br />Years ago I was truck shopping with my son at a Toyota dealer, you know, one with the huge, glass-walled showroom.<br /><br />We were headed for the "office" with the salesman when I spotted a ruby throat hen on the walk, wings outspread but head up. She must have flown into the glass and stunned herself. I picked her up and dropped her into my shirt pocket and went on into the showroom.<br /><br />When we came out a few minutes later I took her out and she perched on my finger, scolding in that tiny twitter they make. <br /><br />After a few more minutes she took off and circled my head twice then landed on my shoulder. She perched there for a couple more minutes, then took off and flew away. Onlookers though I had done something magical!<br /><br />Certainly one of the most treasured experiences of my long life. Your story of your Dad's experience brought it all back. Thanks.

 

[bubbakat]

Re: Air war on my porch!!

JB Know exactly what you are doing. My wife and I have got ten feeders scattered out over the yard ( which is by the way about one and 3/4 acres) the flower garden is full of them. I put humming bird vines out every where they stay all summer. enjoyed a cup of coffee this morn watching them do their magic. The vines let me know when to take the feeders down because they will stay as long as the food last. of course if they stay to long they won't live thru the winter. jb I thought I was the only soft one here.

 

[DJ]

Re: Air war on my porch!!

JB,<br /><br />I've got them too. We have several mating pairs that make their nests in either the palm or citrus trees.<br /><br />It's fun to watch them dive bomb and run the finches off of the feeders, even though they are only about 1/10 their size.

 

[derwood]

Re: Air war on my porch!!

Sounds real nice JB....<br /><br />We have alot of wild flowers but not near as many as I would like.<br /><br />The hummers have'nt been comming around the last couple of years for some reason though....same feeder as always....maybe the guy next door put out a hole bunch or something.<br /><br />We got as many as 8 or so that hung around in years past....not near as many as you but enough to see the battle of midday (he,he,he).<br /><br />I would get one of the "Turks cap" also called mallow or something....you know the red ones that you could pluck as a kid and suck the necture out of the back end for a sweet treat.....<br /><br />Anyway....If I took one and broke it of with 3 or 4 in" of stem I could get them (one inperticular....not many of the rest) to feed from it....as long as I was still and close to the feeder.....a little sugar water for a refill and he/she would come back once or twice before choseing the feeder over me.<br /><br />Rubys are all I see except once I saw a rufus....At least I think it was....they come here every year but I don't think they stay long and are'nt very common....as a surveyor I get to see alot of crazy critters.<br /><br />Have you ever seen a Green Jay?<br /><br />They say they are native to Texas....we have Scrub Jays here....very endangered....and very tame....seen em a few times but they built a "Best western" on that site....Gee, wonder why they are endangered?<br /><br />Derwood.

 

[Fishbusters]

Re: Air war on my porch!!

Got the hummingbirds here too. I like to watch the air wars myself. I have noticed that I can go out and do anything except cut the grass and they take no notice of me unless I am within arms reach of the feeder they wanted to use then they fly up do that chirping they do and fly off sometimes giving a circling buzz before leaving. I try to spread out my feeders and flowers but one usually stakes out 3 or 4 and runs the other ones off till it gets tired then another takes over. The one bird we had when i was a kid we don't have here where I live now (about 15 miles away) is painted buntings. These finch sized birds are colored like Macaws (those several colored parrots). We had them all over but I have not seen one in years. I also miss the Oreoles we had that would feed from the humming bird feeders we had out back then as well.

 

[88spl]

Re: Air war on my porch!!

Wonderful stories guys, thinking about getting one of those humming bird feeders now that we are out in the country now. I have a question for you guys, well before I bought the house I noticed a swallows nest on the back porch, which at the time was not quite complete, and though the kids would get a kick out of it, we got a new home as did the swallows. Moved in about the time she was sitting, sees both the mail and female both share responsibility sitting. We did the mirror thing, 4 eggs, I told my wife at the time that the eggs sure looked large for such a small bird…anyway they hatched, 4 chicks, with large mouths to feed, both male and female share the feeding as well. I don’t know if yall know this, but they feed on the fly, never land to catch their prey, quite interesting to watch. They became use to us by now and us them. Well one evining I noticed one of the chick’s head and beak hanging out over the edge of the nest, to me it looked almost as big as the swallow itself. Well about that time one of the swallows pecked the crap out of the chicks head…. pieyow…. man I thought to myself and told the wife, there your go, he or she is teaching one of them a lesson on how not to get to close to the edge…and fall out…anyway, the next morning 1 dead chick on the ground, with a perfectly round, about the size of a thimble, red circle on the top of the chicks head. I figured it just fell out. The next day, three dead chicks all with the same red circle on the head…on the ground, they were pecked to death. Whats the deal daddy? Why did they kill their babies??? Anyone have any Idea? I think the eggs were not there's, but were laid by another species of bird. Weird…. Now she seems to be sitting on the nest again to have another go at it. I have found a pic of the swallow listed below.<br />

 

[lakeman1999]

Re: Air war on my porch!!

You probably hit the nail on the head, some species are lazy and lay in other specie's nest, to let foster parents raise their young for them.

 

[JB]

Re: Air war on my porch!!

Cowbirds!<br /><br />You have to really be a bird lover to like cowbirds.<br /><br />They are a variety of blackbird that isn't even black, and their "song" sounds like dragging your fingernails of a blackboard. They are the worst about laying their eggs in others' nests.

 

[lakeman1999]

Re: Air war on my porch!!

Wild animals get to know you, and act like a member of the family. This spring we were a little late getting the hummer feeder out, and I was informed of this by a hummer. He appeared one morning as I was reading the morning paper, and hovered where the feeder was supposed to hang. He then flew down and hovered at eye leval with me for a period of time, as if begging of me to get his treat out. Also, as we live on the lake, I have hundreds of bream that spend the spring summer, and fall under my dock, but dissapear in the winter time (I guess to deeper water). I purchase soda crackers, to crumble up and feed them off of the dock, and they get to where the come around everytime I am on the dock, and if I walk along my seawall, they follow me from one end of the property to the other. Well, early this spring I am out walking along the lakefront, and look out into the water, and see this cloud of fish following me along the edge. They were letting me know they were back. Also, they are leery of strangers, and know the difference, between myself or a stranger.

 

[magster65]

Re: Air war on my porch!!

That sounds fabulous... and somewhat dangerous with all those 'kamikaze' flying darts screaming around!

 

[chads15]

Re: Air war on my porch!!

Hay JB, How cool would it be to get your hands on a High Speed Video camera. I know.. who would have one of thoes.. but Still.. if you had access to one. that would be one cool little video! Im alittle out there sometimes......