Humming Bird Wars

The Moon Lake trip that we made for the week before the 4th of July was a fantastic smorgasbord of treats.  It was a trip back in time to a time of my life that was very simple and delightful.  It held a number of surprises.  The amount of wildlife that I encountered was a real surprise though.  There were the deer and and a few larger animals but the small critters were something that could not be ignored.

Humming Birds were there in force and they were not shy, they were actually quite aggressive and almost like mosquitos but I must say the were very interesting.

We camped in the campground and right next to my good friends who were the campground hosts.  They had been there for a few weeks and had their humming bird feeders out and those little birds knew it.

I have a feeder on my deck at home and have had for a couple of years.  Last year I was able to watch the humming birds towards the end of the summer but they were real shy.  This year I have only got a glimpse twice so far but I know they are eating because the food keeps going down.

That was not the case at Moon Lake.  Dan and Dorothy had their feeders out and those little birds knew it.  They had gathered and they were draining those feeders as fast as they could.  When the feeders would get empty those little guys would come right up to your face and I think they were saying  'come on fill the feeder', but I don't speak humming bird.

One of the males would sit on a limb of a tree that overlooked one of the feeders and would do his best to chase all the others away but there were just too many for him.  I couldn't believe how aggressive they were.  More than once I had a humming bird go zipping by right in front of my face not 3-4 inches away, that flash would scare the crap out of ya!
After a bit we decided to go over to the lodge and have some hot chocolate and we just sat out on the front porch.  Well they had 5 humming bird feeders hanging on that porch, and a sufficient number of birds to keep them occupied.

Sometimes they would fill all the flower holes in the feeder and still be looking for more room for others.

  

This little guy we called 'Chubby' and he would sit on that limb and watch the two feeders on one end of the porch and anytime a male came and tried to eat he was right there to chase them off.  It was a different story for the females though, they could eat as much as they wanted.

This little guy above and to the right was a Rufus and a very beautiful golden brown.  When he would get in the sun his feathers would sparkle just like gold.  He migrates all the way from Chili in South America.


There were some with a bright red throat and some with a black throat.  And most of the males had a very shiny silvery green sheen across their wings.

It was fun to just watch and see how they acted and take their pictures.  The pictures were not that easy at least for me.  They move like lightning, they are extremely quick.

Maybe that is what helps them in their migration.  I found out they are the second longest migrating bird in the world.  Like the Rufus, the brown one, he comes all the way from Chili.