Things are back to normal in our backyard. The hummingbirds are at war.
Talk about not sharing, if one hummingbird stakes out a feeder, he or she spends every waking hour making sure that one of its comrades does not sneak in for a quick sip of sugar water. So, we put two feeders in the back yard and separated them, plus two additional feeders in the front yard. Play nice, little hummingbirds. There are plenty of feeders.
But no-o-o-oh! They still fight. You’d think something that small would be kinder and gentler, but our hummers certainly aren’t. Yet, what interesting and beautiful creatures.
Hummingbirds live in North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean Islands. They live in habitats that contain abundant insects, plants with nectar, water and safe places for building nests. These habitats in the Western Hemisphere include suburban backyards, gardens, desert scrublands, canyons, various forests, meadows, grasslands, marshes and tropical jungles.
Hummingbirds migrate north to the southern United States in the spring and go as far as Alaska by May. They migrate south in the fall to Mexico and Central America.
In milder climates, people can begin to feed hummingbirds in the early spring. It is good to begin offering food to birds as soon as they arrive in a particular region so that the birds have a reliable source of nectar upon arrival. People in cooler climates can begin feeding hummingbirds later in the spring. Hummingbirds begin returning to northern areas in May and June, which makes those months ideal for setting out feeders.
On average, the hummingbird flaps its wings up to 80 times per second. This rapid movement creates a slightly humming sound, which is the reason it is called a hummingbird. There are approximately 300 species of hummingbirds, and 12 of these species spend their summers in North America.
Our hummers usually hang around through September, then, just as they appeared, they disappear. It is truly amazing that the small birds that lived in our yard this summer will fly over 2,000 miles to Mexico in the next month. I hope they enjoy their winter and I look forward to seeing them again next spring. In the meantime – stop fighting!
