Hummingbird wars in the backyard!
Summer is always a fun and very active time for me around our home – especially as it relates to various flora and fauna. Each year we have a resident hummer(s) that move in and take control of our flower garden and nectar feeder. And, if you’ve not witnessed it, hummers are very aggressive towards anything that invades its space!
All summer we watched as this young male spent countless hours chasing out even the largest of birds – including blue jays and woodpeckers. They are fearless I’m telling you! Besides being territorial, they are also very inquisitive. They will fly within two feet of my nose, and while hovering, look me right in the eyes.
As summer began to close and the weather turned cooler, another young male passing through decided to fill up on some nectar from our zinnias. What happened next was incredible. For about 30 minutes as this passerby tried to fill up our resident would have none of it. The aerial “dogfight” was on! Swooping, diving, rising, falling, it looked as if I was watching the hummingbird version of Top Gun starring Tom Cruise.
I thought if I could only get the two of them in action and in focus it would be a miracle. Now please understand, trying to manhandle a camera and 600mm telephoto lens while following around two creatures the size of your thumb – and getting them in focus while stopping the action with a fast enough shutter speed – is very difficult at best. At least for me.
Over these precious minutes there was a lot of failure. One in focus, one out. Both out of focus. The angle of light was bad. One or both obscured by foreground flowers. Just to name a few challenges.
Then it happened! After about 30 minutes, and my arms weary from the gear, the interloper lit on one of the blooms and our young male immediately began his aerial assault. With a beak as pointy as a sword it was all out war! Jabbing, poking, swooping in and out, and up and down was all the visitor could take. Beaten and battle scarred (you can see he lost feathers in the photos), he could take no more and finally flew off never to return.
As I uploaded the images to my pc I was hoping and praying I captured something of value, and not just another blurry mess of pixels like I’ve done many times before. Bam! I think I have a few. And although these few snaps will never be able to tell the full story, it’s one I’ll never forget and probably never be able to capture again.
Here are the three photos of them sparring along with extras thrown in of the resident male preening.
