The Furious Fighting Ruby-throated Hummingbirds

How does a juvenile male Ruby-throated Hummingbird end up on a human finger?

He loses a fraction of a one second combat mission against another hummingbird defending a sugar water feeder during August/September when my area's Ruby-throated hummingbirds slowly migrate home (to Central America) because they cannot survive the cold and lack of food during our winter. This lucky  Ruby-throated Hummingbird was rescued and turned over to a rehabilitation group (federally licensed) who was able to help him by giving him a safe place to stay until he was well enough to fly.

If not for human intervention he would have died because hummingbirds cannot walk around to find food, if they are grounded. Their tiny feet are so weak they have to fly to turn around or flitter their wings just to shuffle down a twig or sugar water feeder "bench".

In this blog I have only Ruby-throated hummingbird photographs, LOTS of interesting hummingbird facts, tips on rescuing hummingbirds, the nectar recipe, tips on how to photograph hummers and suggestions about those pesky hornets. Please feel free to write below, or to Kellitaj@aol.com to note your visit.

We are on the Ruby-throated Hummingbird's migration path here in Hernando, Mississippi, just below Memphis TN. When these Ruby-throated hummingbirds migrate SOUTH, they fight with their sword beaks.It's hummingbird WARZ time August through September.
Put up a feeder and have a camera handy, preferably a digital so you can erase all the "missed" pictures. They launch off branches, forwards and backwards, with super hummingbird speeds and the most excellent coordination for acrobatic excellence.

Plop yourself down with binoculars to watch them groom, streach, sunbathe fight and eat before they leave for Central America.The biggest detriment to hummers that I've seen are the hummingbird WARZ. They don't like to be together so they fight, fight, FIGHT!
Physical contact is made, they stab with their beaks and target the eyes or the wings, they push each other off branches and chase each other hard... they mean business! 
Hummingbirds whose wings are broken, mangled, twisted or bent from mortal combat with another of their kind are doomed because our Veterinarians are not equipped to operate on their tiny bodies, so.... why are they fighting?

They want to control and eat ALL of the sugar water where they stop along their southern migration route to try to double their mass before the big, non stop 525 mile flight over the Gulf of Mexico, and will not share.  These hummingbirds migrate only during daylight hours. They will guard the sugar water feeders from the nearby plants/trees, or sit on top of the feeder, but even that perch will not stop hungry hummingbirds from trying to get some nectar. The nectar/sugar water inside the feeder had better be fresh, not cloudy! Old nectar is sour/fermented and is not hummingbird food. (Nectar recipe is 1 part white sugar 4 parts hottest water, stir to dissolve sugar, add nothing else.) Humans are not the only providers of sugar water, some flowers produce a nectar that also attract insects. Small insects are possibly caught in dew or rain droplets, and some flowers like honeysuckle offer a tasty dew collection but it's not the 1 to 4 ratio of SUGAR to water like we put into our hummingbird feeders, so we offer the best fat making treat before the migration they can find.

Here in Northern Mississippi, where I live, we only have one kind of hummingbird, and that's the Ruby-throated which are the most widely distributed of the world's 339-343 species of hummingbirds, and makes hummingbirds the 2nd largest family of birds (who all live in the Western Hemisphere). (above delivers an eye poke- get off this feeder!)

There are 2 other varieties of hummingbirds who also visit Mississippi, but their territory is along the MS coast. Beginning in March, a few male Ruby-throated hummingbirds (scouts) arrive and let me know they're back by looking into the house windows until I see them. They appear to do this to many houses, probably where they found feeders the past year. They seem to be saying: We're here, put out a feeder! Other hummingbirds will arrive in the U.S. days, weeks or a month later but only a couple will stop at my house for sugar water, nothing like the numbers that arrive later in the summer when they migrate south. Usually one male and a couple of females will live around my 20 acres for the summer.

(Even with my fastest shutter speed and fastest professional 20MB/s...

The rest of the northward migrating hummingbirds don't stop at all at my 2 newly hung feeders, but feast on newly hatched insects using their long tongues to capture them inside flowers.

Many hummingbirds return for 5 months to the same area where they were born to procreate. They spread out far apart from each other in the mostly eastern part of the United States and some even journey all the way up
to Canada. We're like their vacation stop, just here for a quick visit to eat our tiny insects!

In July I hang up ALL of the sugar water feeders that survived last year, and buy more as I see all the larger number of hummingbirds start to arrive and surround my house, fighting for food. Some birds like to be seated when eating, others do not, they have to fly so I offer a variety of feeders.

In August, they ALL start slowly migrating south, even the newly fledged that are only months old. They all must put on some weight for the long flight over the Gulf to Central America... and that's when the fighting starts over sugar water feeders.

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are solitary birds, they never, NEVER get together in flocks, and don't mate for life, so when forced to be close together for food, they get hateful and cranky with each other and even other birds. Some mother hummingbirds are still teaching their most recent young how to find food while migrating, so some birds are "together" when they arrive in the fall, but it won't last long before she chases them off to fend for themselves. At the Crack of Dawn, the hummingbirds are eating, (photo above) chasing and fighting.  Some are preparing to leave for another day's long migration flight south, while others will stay here enjoying the quiet, the insects and plentiful sugar water feeders.

 

That red blur is an incoming male--->>>

Only the male Ruby-throated hummingbird gets the brilliant ruby/black throat feathered coloring, the female blends in totally with the trees with her gray and green feathers. The males can control those feathers and flare them RED towards a bird in warning! Sometimes the glare of the sun makes the Ruby color look GOLD.

If there's a feeder with fresh nectar hanging by a house on their migration path in August/Sept, there will be a hummingbird in a nearby bush or tree standing guard over "their sugar water feeder" for a day or 2 weeks, until they're ready/fat enough to survive the long migration flight over the Gulf of Mexico.
The males with their brilliant coloring really know how to "turn on the red" when their "protected" feeder is being pilfered. Sometimes all you see is a dot or a streak of red as they jet in to attack, then return,
then attack!

All hummingbirds have a strategy to either defend or attack a hummingbird feeder. A defender finds a perch and watches for all poachers and chases, stabs, slams and chi chi chi's them.

A poacher waits until the "sugar water feeder guard" goes to eat bugs and spiders or is engaged in chasing another hummer, then sneaks in for a quick drink. I've seen 4 hummingbirds all appear to fight each other over the same feeder, but usually the bird that establishes the territory first over the feeder, rules. Maybe because they get more to eat, but one hummingbird needs 10 calories a day to survive.

They fight over feeder and over branches in "the arena" which is what I call the staging area close to the feeders.Hummingbird "sugar water feeder guards" have to keep a sharp eye out because at any moment there could be incoming!

For protein needs, hummingbirds hunt nearby for small insects and spiders in the surrounding trees, and will inspect the house windows for hiding bugs.

I have to be careful when the hummingbirds first arrive in March to only put out 2 feeders (at first) because the hummingbirds really don't use them when there is so much honeysuckle and other nectar and insect bearing flowers in our 20 acres, but the raccoons will empty them out.

In my opinion, the female Ruby-throated hummingbirds are more aggressive over the feeders because they have expended so much energy to get here from Central America (20 hours of continuous flight?) then have 2 normal clutches of 2 babies each, (the males don't even help raise them) and now they have to get ready (gain weight) to fly back over the Gulf of Mexico? The rush to get some fat on their bodies is on, but is all that fighting worth it? We have no idea how many FAIL to fly across the Gulf.

HUNDREDS of Thousands of Ruby-throated hummingbirds (RTHU) have been banded in America, mostly by the Audubon Society, and NOT ONE has been re-caught in Central America (that's according to their website). Maybe the uber light band that's forced onto their leg is too heavy a burden to carry across the Gulf? Anchors Away?? I think Audubon should stop banding them. Supposedly most hummingbirds only live 3-5 years, with the longest life span being 12 years, but that first year is when 80% of all songbirds die.
Feed the hummingbirds so they can successfully migrate for the winter!

                                                   
I used to spread 30 feeders out all over the yard to try to prevent fighting, but the cluster of 25 different style sugar water feeders on the front porch is allowing some group eating to occur, and it's a lot easier to change the food, and photograph the birds. What other wildlife comes right up to you to take their photograph??

But even with multiple feeders there is constant, unending fighting. The fights can be a simple shove off a branch, an aerial body slam turn but most conflicts turn into into high speed chases of usually only 2 birds. Some photos of their supersonic chases looks like art (below).

The hummingbird is the smallest of all of earth's animals that has a backbone, and they need it to support the SPEAR they use to fight with! The world's smallest bird is the Bee Hummingbird, which lives in Cuba and is the size of a bumble bee! The fast beating wings of these Ruby-throated is 60 to 80 times PER SECOND for a normal speed of 25 mph to 35 mph can ramp up to 40-60MPH when motivated. That's why some pictures of them only show ghosts with the red lights on: Halt! That's my feeder!

 

In our heat, the sugar water goes BAD- rancid- quickly if the feeder is hung in the direct sunlight, so I try to hang feeders in shady areas, (or cover the nectar part of the feeder with something like a modified juice container) where I hope the raccoons won't find/reach them and I use a stronger sugar water mixture to try to counter the cooking summer heat.

    

These tiny birds are omnivores, also feeding on spiders and insects that are found in the flowers, under green tree leaves or flying around the rotting apples in the tree they're perch in. An adult Ruby-throated hummingbird may eat twice its body weight in food each day, (they weigh less than a nickel) which it burns up with all of their fighting/chasing!
Long tongues help probe flowers for insects and nectar!

 

See the missing feathers near the eye of this fellow below, see the sharp end of his beak? He got stabbed with a hummingbird sword.

The hummingbirds love to hunt for bugs in my Rose of Sharon bushes (below) I recommend this shrub (not the single blossom variety but the double blossom) to attract hummingbirds because of it's summer long blooming period, easy maintenance (you only have to plant it once), and because insects love to hide in the double petaled flower blossoms.

The Ruby-throat hummingbirds are the only hummingbird species that breed in eastern North America, and some of their mating/courting flights are dazzling. I've seen a male fly a 12 foot wide horseshoe shape faster than my eye could track him, making an unusual buzzing sound that must be courting music... and flaring the ruby red feathers! Wow! He was spectacular!

The Ruby-throated hummingbirds do vary somewhat in feather coloring, some having more brown than green in their 940 body feathers, but only the males have the bright RUBY collars (gorget) with those fabulous iridescent red feathers which require just the right angle to see, (unless they're flashing them on purpose) otherwise they appear black in coloring to blend into their habitat.

The green feathers also have a metallic sheen when caught just right in the sunlight. they are great camouflage when perched in trees.

 

Ruby-throated hummingbird males establish a territory and court all females who enter it for any of their several clutches/broods of babies (in the colder north, maybe only one brood and in FL they've reported 3 broods)

The females provide the 16-18 days of incubation, and all of the food needed for the average 2 nestlings who will be full grown and ready to fly (fledge) before they leave their tiny nest after about 3 weeks when their mother will teach them how to find their own food.

Most Ruby-throated Hummingbirds females construct their nests in hardwoods or evergreens three to 60 feet off the ground. (male above, female below)

 

For safety from predators, nests can be located in the crotch in an outer, down-turned branch overhanging water, where sticky spiderwebs are used to make lichens pieces stick together to weave a teeny tiny nest cup. I've never found/seen a nest and I've always looked. Hummingbird nests are not reused from the previous year because winter weather destroys them, but a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird may return to use the same tree and branch in successive years and they usually use the same nest for a second (in the South) or third clutch (reported in FL) within the same breeding season.

(The juvenile males above are just starting to grow their gorget feathers - which are the tiny red/black spots in their necks)

When the chicks first hatch, they are completely naked and one inch long, their mother will not leave their nest for more than a few minutes each hour to forage. When the chicks are ready to leave their nest they may be larger than their parent weighing 4.5 grams, while their caring mother has usually lost weight. When the mother hummingbird sleeps on the nest she will settle in with her neck retracted and her head forward, her beak pointed up at a sharp angle and her feathers will be all fluffy to keep everyone nice and warm.

The hummingbirds wings look kind of like penguin wings, a flipper without a joint to bend. This design allows them the socket/mobility to manipulate the position of their wings so that they can move forward, backwards, sideways and hover like no other bird on our planet.

 

 
The hummingbird's "circle of fear" is so small (compared to other birds who fly away as soon as they see you) they will fly right up to you for a close inspection - if you are quiet. They have flown right up to my camera, blown my hair while watching me photograph other birds and have bumped into my husband when he was doing exercises outside on "their porch" (trying to get away from an attacker no doubt). Below you can see one that's sitting above my head and another that's almost in my hair. but "the circle of fear" is larger when they are perched, I'd estimate 40-50 feet if you are quietly seated, but much farther if there is noise or large movements.

When standing on the porch to try to take a picture they can be fighting and buzz past my head so close my hair moves, giving chase to another, and I can hear them when they make CONTACT. - Their bodies slamming together, the action is so fast my camera doesn't get anything but blurring images. Sometimes there is slower fighting as they assess each other up through the trees but usually the action is so fast they smash together then they're off and chasing each other around the house. If you want to take pictures of hummingbirds let them get used to you by sitting quietly near their feeders. Set your digital camera's ISO to a slow speed, and check out the light. If the light is behind the birds, you'll only get silhouettes unless you use a flash.When the light is behind YOU, the birds have color.

Most "feeder guardians" use the same 3-4 perch positions to guard their feeder. If you observe where they like to perch, you can train your camera on that area for when they return from a chase or a bite. If you use a tri pod, then the camera won't shake and you can snap away. for pictures in flight, your camera needs to focus, so snap them flying close to a feeder, so they're in focus then crop out the feeder if needed.  Spread the feeders around so that you have different angles from which to photograph them, but the key to an interesting shot, is giving them a colorful, close, safe place to perch and guard their feeder. The best hummingbird pictures have the source of light behind you, pointing your camera at the bird to capture that brilliant Ruby Red! Take photos at all different times of day for different light. very important is to DELETE photos that are not good and categorize the ones you save on your computer so you can find them: males, feeder, fighting, etc. Digital cameras will help you take hundreds of photos, managing them so you can find the ones you want to share is a must.

Hummingbirds will open their mouths when stresed from heat and to beg for food from their Mama. This pic (below) is of juvenile being shown how to use a sugar water feeder, but he wanted a bug in the mouth.

Hummingbird fighters do a lot of what I call the OH YEAHS?!!?
They fly breast to breast, twirling around like a dance, flying up and up into the air.
OH YEAH?? OH YEAH?? OH YEAH?? OH YEAH?? This type of posturing/fighting doesn't appear to cause injuries like when they SPEAR each other in the wings.

They are vicious!

That streak of incoming female hummingbird on the right will make contact with the hummer who DARED approaching HER feeder. You can hear the contact.

They stab, slash and spear with their beaks and body slam and ram each other in mid air - wow!

I was putting up a feeder when a juvenile settled in for a sip and was promptly stabbed in the back of the head and shooed away before I let go of the feeder. They want food!

 

After feeding hummingbirds for 18 years they know my house, so each year it appears that more stop by, and then I need more hummingbird feeders, but how many is enough? The answer is ... I can never find out because the raccoons will take down the feeders if I put them up in the surrounding trees.

Maybe you wonder where do hummingbirds sleep? They usually pick a perch where they feel safe, it's usually up high in a tall tree, on a tiny branch they can clamp their teeny tiny feet around, because when they sleep at night they go into a "Torpor state", or hibernation. Ruby-throated hummingbirds shut down all body functions to only 15% at night and nothing much can wake them up, even if one foot lets go of the branch, and they hang upside down they still "sleep" until dawn (which is before sunrise). While "sleeping" their heart rate will drop to only 50 beats a minute, compared to 250 beats at rest and 1220 when flying. Their body temperature and metabolism will both drop below normal and their breathing will slow, which is how hummingbirds can save up to 60% of their available energy at night.

 

Before hummingbirds "sleep" (hibernate for the night) they "tank up" as much as possible. Unlike some birds that can be awakened at night and fly off, hummingbirds sleep like zombies. An evening storm can toss them around until they awaken with the sun rise... maybe even on the ground still holding the broken branch!

After a fight, scratching, grooming and preening is important to get all the flight feathers back in order before the next battle. That means scraping off sugar water residue, or are they sharpening their beaks?

 

 

Counting this hummingbird's feathers??? 940 is about right, unless you're missing a few from the Hummingbird WarZ (right next to his eye).

 Bristling up the "head feathers" is the prelude to tail fanning and launching stabbing chasing fight!

 

Feathers can also be bent to reflect (red) warning lights, and thrown up as a blanket to warm against a chilling wind.. from the downy belly feathers. They can also gather some warming sun rays with their fluffy down, ...

 

Feathers also repel the rain but wet hummers still fight! I was happy to find these hummingbirds during a daytime windy rain storm.  The birds appear to point their beaks to the sky and shake off the rain as best they can.

 

 

 

Butterflies observe the hummingbird's feeders and will eat there, just like the hummingbirds.

Too bad butterflies are unable to stay away from speeding cars ...  like hummingbirds.

But those hummers will not willingly share the feeders, only if forced with the hornets, raccoons, butterflies and other birds.

Hummingbird attacking finch - get off my feeder!

Above a yellow jacket buzzes past a brilliant male.

 

Now for a brief note about HORNETS!

We cannot enjoy our hummingbirds if the birds (or us) are chased away by hornets.

There are many traps/poison sprays that can be used to reduce the number of hornets. Please do not use something that will poison or injure the birds. A tall glass bottle with sugar water in the bottom and a strange tip works (I accidentally left a hummingbird bottle, with 1 inch of nectar in the bottle and a funnel stuck in the top of it, and it trapped about 20 yellow jackets in a day. I usually use large plastic pitchers with nectar in them and plastic wrap tightly across the top, with (entry) holes (away from the edges) in the center of the wrap, they trap some hornets. There are also commercial sugar water traps. I only do this if the number of visiting hornets threatens the birds or my family. They were bad in 2010, but this year 2011, not any problem at all, so no trapping was needed.

In 2010 the first huge RED hornets arrived, the make a big appearance of being aggressive, but do not attack like others. I grab those big red hornets with tongs and quickly put them into a bowl of VERY soapy water which was in my other hand. If yellow jackets are on the railings and chairs because of dripping feeders (overheating causes them to drip), I spray the area with soapy water.

Please love our wildlife more than you hate them. Do not use poison, they will kill the birds, toads, skinks and butterflies! Just ask California, who poisoned the state for mosquitoes and flies and now, NO BIRDS, no butterflies, no crickets, when I visited it was deadly quiet outside, no flying colors or singing songs.

We SHARE this planet - don't poison it!

Below... perching above his feeder, he dive bombs onto intruders.

I can hear them fighting even inside the house, the pursuer usually chirps and yells get out of here:

chee chee chee chee chee---> scram! These birds have to have the quickest reflexes, the sharpest eye. When trying to photograph them I will get distracted by passing dragonflies, hornets, butterflies... they see all from their perch and defend the feeder!

The inside of hummingbird feeders have to be kept clean inside. I rinse mine out with a little vinegar then hot water, to prevent mold from growing inside, and use a clean bottle brush. Outside, the feeders get all kinds of dust mixed in with the sugar water and humidity, but that's doesn't hurt the birds, only what's on the inside, which holds their food. Please be careful what you clean the feeders with, you don't want to poison the birds.

When hummingbirds are migrating, which they only do ALONE during the daytime, they usually fly just above the treetop level over land, and when they fly across the Gulf of Mexico they are low enough to be noticed by fishermen in their boats fishing 100's of miles from the coast, which is how their suicidal migration was noticed- some don't fly around the coast. We don't know have reliable facts about the Ruby-throated hummingbird's migration, but I am guessing that thousands of young hummingbirds birds DON'T MAKE IT ACROSS THE GULF. I write this because of the large number of birds I see leaving, but not returning. I wish they'd just fly around the coast and migrate to Mexico and beyond via Texas.

Hummingbirds will try to use the winds to their advantage every chance they get and they seem to have inner barometers that can tell when bad weather is brewing over the Gulf and stay on land until it passes. When hurricanes have struck MS's coast, I have noticed an increase in the number of hummingbirds around the house when it wasn't migration time, and believe that they flew north (to the TN border with MS) to get away from the storm, and then left after it passed.

The first year is hardest on the young Hummingbirds, who don't have natural predators. Some mammals will eat their eggs/young but few can catch them during the daytime.  Their biggest danger is when they fight, they can cause injury or fly into a window and splat, or not notice a well fed house cat! 

Lucky for these fighters our orange kitty-> Caterina is an OLD cat and didn't try to smack them, since they fought right above her head!

Cats and hummingbirds don't mix. Unfortunately, when hummingbirds fight around an old cat that isn't interested in grabbing them, they become desensitized to the dangers of cats, their fangs and claws. After snapping these pics I put my old cat down onto the porch, away from the fighting/curious hummingbirds. Cats have detrimental bacteria on their fangs and claws that can be fatal to birds/wildlife unless they receive some antibiotics. If you rescue a bird from a cat, be sure to tell the rehabilitator that you take the bird too for care! (Dogs don't have this.)

Sharp eyes find the injured hummingbirds, get them care, and maybe they can recover.

This female Ruby-throated hummingbird (below) was brought in a bowl so I snapped a pic before taking her to the lady who provides rehabilitation for all of the rescued birds in our area with health issues. (This type of caregiver requires a federal license.)

This female Ruby-throated Hummingbird (below) smacked into the window when she was fighting and had a concussion for a few hours, then she recovered. With human intervention, hummers can heal broken collarbones (6 weeks) and minor sprains, a brief concussion, but not if they're grounded long where predators or starvation will kill them. They cannot walk around to grab a bug, or a drink, their legs and feet are so weak. Growing back tail feathers removed by a cat can take months - who's going to take care of them?? Only a Federally licensed rehabilitator, and they always need a donation because there are no federal funds to accompany their permit, just bills for the wildlife's food, drugs and habitat.

The worst thing you can do if you live where it's very hot is bring any kind of injured wildlife into your cold, air conditioned home. Please place rescued wildlife into a container WITH AIR HOLES that keeps them safe (from your house cat), warm (not hot), quiet, and let's go back to --->>>a safe ---again.

I hope you will investigate who provides (lawful) temporary care for injured or orphaned wildlife in your area. Bird watchers notice the smallest things and if you find an injured Hummingbird, (in the USA & Canada) Federal Law protects their bodies, nests, eggs and feathers, and you're not allowed to keep them, but within 24 hours find a licensed caregiver who can. This is important because wildlife have special needs, medical (especially if attacked by a cat) diet, cages that don't ruin their feathers, and most birds require peace and QUIET, etc and if you don't provide it they die. Yes, some wildlife can die of fright.

 

 

A funny thing happened to a good Samaritan who brought a stunned hummingbird into her house who'd run into her window and she found it on the ground. While talking to me on the wildlife help line, the hummingbird she'd had next to her in an open shoebox regained its senses and the use of its wings and started flying around the inside of her house. Opening the front door didn't work because the bird flew up as high as it could get to try to escape and wouldn't fly down to the door.

I had her help it outside just like when Hummers get stuck inside someone's garage and keep flying upwards in the ceiling to escape (even though the garage door is open), but are unable to exit. (Don't use a net you will injure their wings.) To successfully get a hummingbird out of your garage or home:

Put a hummingbird feeder at the door/window, so when they go eat, they will see the great outdoors and fly outside after their snack.

For those of you who are new to feeding hummingbirds, purchase a sugar water feeder that already has red on it to attract the hummingbirds, some birds don't even need the red if there's another feeder nearby.

Don't add red food coloring to the sugar water, they don't need coloring, they need calories.

Measure 1 part granulated WHITE SUGAR (never honey which can cause fungus growths)  to 4 parts your hottest hot tap water (you don't have to boil it, just dissolve the sugar). You can measure it into a pitcher or directly into the feeder with a funnel...like 1/2 cup sugar, then 2 cups hottest water, shake shake shake, then, put the bottom on the feeder, then hang - or make a pitcher of nectar and keep the unused portion in the refrigerator. If you have a tiny feeder then 1 tbs sugar, 4 tbs hot water. The sugar dissolves and it's all ready to be eaten by the marauders. (I use a 1 to 3 measurement for stronger sugar water starting in July because the intense heat of 100 degrees plus the humidity here cooks the weaker solution quickly into rancidness.) If you're wondering why you don't have hummingbirds at your feeder that you hung up in April and have never changed the nectar - it's rancid. Sugar water can quickly go rancid (in 2 days) if the feeder hangs in the hot sun, just one sniff and you can tell, it's not food for birds, maybe for ants and hornets. The hot sun can also cause trapped air inside your feeder to expand and make your feeder "leak" so try a shadier spot to hang it, or shade it with a cover over the part that hold the nectar.

 

When my hummingbirds don't share the nectar they don't need much in their feeder so I don't put very much nectar inside a feeder (not fill it all up) because it will be wasted. If one feeder is only feeding one bird, I just put in enough for a day or two. But when they share, it can be filled up to the top!

Hummingbirds need more to survive than a sugar water feeder, just like our songbirds need more than birdseed in the summer, so dig up your grass that doesn't help any of the wildlife and plant flowering bushes! There are so many varieties, plant as many as you like! Even CLOVERS are better than grass because some types of butterfly require them to lay their eggs on.

Hummingbirds REQUIRE protein, which they get from (healthy) insects... like spiders, gnats and nice small fruit flies. While they're here in the North, the bugs have a chance to breed/restock in Central America.

 

Be kind to birds, a cut lawn-manicured grass doesn't feed wildlife. Poisoning bugs outside your home, poisons the wildlife who eat them like Toads, Skinks, songbirds and Hummingbirds!

The tiny dots are where the male gorget feathers will come in once this bird matures.

The in your face stabbings, are very hard to photograph.

Wildlife needs bushy native plants, fruits (some left to rot to attract insects) flowers, SEEDS, dead trees and leaves, plants where insects can lay their eggs, caterpillars can grow so the lovely butterflies can emerge. Spiders need prey, and places to hang their webs. Please plants trees and bushes for birds, add natural water features, or bowls of water, the rewards will be cherished by planet earth and those we share it with.

We have a nature habitat around our home, with some " cut green" around the house that is cut grass/clover/violets, etc, the rest is left to grow tall. The natural habitat of MS surrounds our home with a 2 mile walking path intertwined in it. A water hose fills our pond 24/7 that feeds the creek (we have a well) and that's how the birds find plenty of water, insects and native plants and we live happily here with them.

My husband always says, no place else has as many singing birds as our home.

 below, a male Indigo Bunting (female is brown)

If you use herbicides to kill "weeds" like clover and violets, then you are not supporting the larvae of the Tiger Swallowtail Swallowtail butterfly who needs them to lay their eggs on (below on Iron weed and thistle).

 

Above: Mississippi Kites mating on the dead Oak tree next to our home:

http://www.welovebirds.org/profiles/blogs/the-dead-oak-tree-and-the

 

 

 

 

September 6, 2010 Injured juvenile male
This injured Ruby-throated Hummingbird I named Henri (pronounced with a french accent please) was found floundering in the grass at 6:30AM in the morning, when I was filling our feeders with fresh nectar. His wings seemed to work fine, but he couldn't fly.

I took Henri to MS Wildlife Rehabilitation (and made a $100 donation) so they could lawfully help him until he got better, which turned out to be later the same day I brought him it! He just needed some calories and he was good to go.

I called my local Memphis TN, TV station, Fox13 and they came to do a story on the Hummingbirds who need more feeders! The photographer spent 2 hours filming them, it was hard for him to follow the fleeing fighters with his huge camera. You can see it here:

If you watch the Fox story on line, please leave a note on the web page so they'll know that people are
interested in wildlife stories and do more of them!

Up close or far away, migrating Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are

da-bomb,

da-sword,

da-furious fighters!

and fun to watch in da yard.

Even when the moon rises and it's time for bed the hummers fight for that last bite. By the end of September the temp has dropped to 53 degrees but there are still a few birds visiting the feeder. contrary to rumors, NEVER do hummingbirds stay here for the winter, they cannot survive without insects and with the cold temps. So once they're gone, take down and clean out the feeders because freezing temps will break them.

All of these pictures were taken by Kelly Jacobs at her home in Hernando, Mississippi with the exception of the pics of the female hummingbird on the hand which she took in Lake Cormorant, MS. The wildlife hot line rescue phone number for Northern Mississippi is 662-429-5105. www.MSWildlifeRehab.org.

You can write to Kelly at Kellitaj@aol.com

 

Other Blogs about birds around our home:

The Mississippi Kite and other birds who need our dead oak tree
http://www.welovebirds.org/profiles/blogs/the-dead-oak-tree-and-the

The Clearwing Hummingbird Moth
http://www.welovebirds.org/profiles/blogs/the-clearwing-hummingbird...

Do you know where to take injured Birds?
http://www.welovebirds.org/profiles/blogs/rescuing-birdsgtgt-do-you...

Protecting Bird Boxes
http://www.welovebirds.org/profiles/blogs/birds-and-snakes-how-to

Blogs about the Grand Teton National Park

There's Nothing Common about the Raven
http://www.welovebirds.org/profiles/blogs/theres-nothing-common-about

Grand Teton National Park is destroying Barn Swallow nests
http://www.welovebirds.org/profiles/blogs/grand-teton-national-park...

Birds with a Symbiotic Relationship with the American Bison
http://www.welovebirds.org/profiles/blogs/birds-with-a-symbiotic

The American White Pelican Doesn't Dive Bomb for it's food
http://www.welovebirds.org/profiles/blogs/the-american-white-pelican

Blogs About Florida

Honeymoon Island and the Ospreys
http://www.welovebirds.org/profiles/blogs/honeymoon-island-in-tampa-a