Each summer
I fill five hummingbird feeders every day.
I have plenty of flowers that the birds feed on, but I like to keep
feeders close to the house so I can watch the activity.
For years I spread the feeders out, trying to keep them separated so if
a bully male kept a female off a feeder she could simply go around the corner
to another feeder. Still, the bullies
seemed to stake out a territory and fight off anyone who came close.
Recently I
noticed a feeder that I had placed under a birch tree was never used by the hummingbirds. It remained full while the other feeders were
depleted daily. I thought perhaps the
location was an issue. I had three feeders
near the back door where shrubs offered better protection, and another toward
the other end of the screened porch. So
even though I had been keeping the feeders separated from one another, I
cleaned the unused one, filled it with fresh sugar water, and brought it closer
to the other feeders. To make room for it, I moved the others even closer together. Now, for the first
time, four of the five feeders are only a few feet apart. Then a strange thing happened.
Suddenly the
hummingbirds stopped fighting over possession of a feeder and became more social
and cooperative. Now three or four birds
can sit and drink at a single feeder, a few feet away from another feeder
filled with birds. With the feeders close together, and
close to the house and shrubs for protection, it looks like almost everyone is getting along
and the battles have dramatically decreased, although not disappeared completely. After all, some males just can’t help being belligerent.
I thought keeping
the feeders apart was a good way to feed the hummingbirds and deal with the
bullies, but moving them closer has had
a profound effect. Now birds are sharing
feeders and getting along. This may not
work for everyone but it sure worked for me.
For the first time, there is relative peace among the thirsty hummingbird
population at my house.
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