Bossy Bird and Other Tails

A few weeks ago my neighbor told me a recipe for homemade hummingbird food: mix three cups water with one cup sugar, boil, cool, done. So I bought a feeder and made the food and lo and behold . . . hummingbirds appeared!

These little guys are quite entertaining.

I never realized how territorial hummingbirds are. There are around five that rotate out the role of "Bossy Bird." Depending on the time of the day, one bird will stake claim of the feeder.

The bird in charge will perch above the feeder and twitter on about his new found fountain of deliciousness.

Blabbering on like that attracts other birds to attempt a drink. The bird in charge then chases off the intruder bird all the while a second intruder bird comes by for a sneak swig.



This pisses off the bird in charge, who will hover behind the offender, twittering on about theft and fanning his tail feathers.

Bossy bird eventually gets over it and realizes he has a drinking buddy

This lasts for a few seconds until the next bird comes by and claims ownership.

For such tiny birds, they consume a lot of sugar water. I had initially estimated the handful of birds to go through a feeder full of food every ten days. Their appetite has picked up and they're now draining a feeder every few days.

See, they're expanding at an extraordinary rate!