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BIRD BEHAVIOR
Behind the Scenes with Hummingbirds
 | Male Ruby-throated
Hummingbird |
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At our various hummingbird feeders in June we have several males and a few females. One female comes to a feeder mounted on Lillian's office window and repeatedly leaves in the same direction, flying around our back shed and into the woods. We are convinced that she is nesting there, but our attempts to find the nest have been in vain. Out in our garden we have several males that seem to be fighting and chasing most of the time. Who knows how they get enough time to feed!
Male and female hummingbirds remain separate during most of the breeding season. Males defend good sources of nectar, such as flowers or a feeder, from other males as much as they can. When females come nearby, the males may court them with several displays, including tail fanning and gorget spreading (the red feathers around the neck and head). They also have two aerial displays: in one, the bird shuttles back and forth in the air; in the other, it does marvelous looping flights in front of the female.
Females lead males away from the nectar source and initiate copulation. After mating, the two separate and the female goes about building the nest and raising the young. The male goes back to his territory and tries to attract another mate. Females may also mate with more than one male, but this has not been recorded.
Thus it is rare that you will ever see two hummingbirds together for very long. This usually happens only when a female has had her young and is bringing them to the feeder or when two siblings are still young and not yet competing with each other.
When baby hummingbirds leave the nest, they are not that much smaller than adults and may be hard to distinguish by size alone. If you see what look like tiny hummingbirds at your flowers, chances are they are actually small moths, sometimes called hummingbird moths, that hover and feed at flowers in much the same manner as hummingbirds.
These facts should help you make sense of some of the hummer behavior you see around your yard this summer and help you know what is going on behind the scenes of hummingbird lives.
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