Territorial Hummingbirds!

Hummingbirds may be tiny, but they are also fierce…especially when defending their food source! If you have planted nectar-rich flowers in your yard or put out a Hummingbird feeder, you have probably witnessed the aggressive behavior Hummingbirds display when other Hummingbirds come near their food. While other birds will eat communally at feeders, Hummingbirds do not like to share and with good reason.

Hummingbirds have the fastest metabolism of any animal on earth and they need to eat a lot. Because Hummingbirds burn food so fast, they actually need to eat half their body weight in sugar every day, so your flowers or feeders are essential to their survival.  Hummingbirds also eat small insects to add protein and minerals to their diet, which means they actually consume 1.5 to 3 times their body weight in food daily.

About this time of year Hummingbird chicks begin to fledge the nest and you may start seeing more Hummingbirds as the “kids” find your flowers or feeders. If you’re finding one Hummer seems to be dominating the feeder and chasing off everyone else who comes to drink, you may want to add another feeder or two to your yard. But, be sure to keep additional feeders out of sight of the first feeder. A dominant Hummingbird will protect any food source within its vision. So if it is feeding at one nectar feeder and sees another Hummer at the second feeder, he will try to chase it off.