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Posts: 39,562
Registered: ‎08-23-2010

Re: DEALING WITH "BULLY" HUMMINGBIRDS


@HLP wrote:

@HLP wrote:

@Tinkrbl44 wrote:

On our terrace, we've got a very nice hummingbird feeder.  An aggresive hummer sits on the nearby ficus and stands guard over it .... if other hummers come to feed, he swoops at them and chases them away!   I didn't know there was such a thing as a bully h-bird, until this little guy came along.  He's very persistent!

 

I want all the interested hummers to be able to feed, but am not sure what to do about the aggressive one.   Anyone have any experience, suggestions ...  or whatever?   TIA!


Oh Yes!!! I put a second feeder up, and that stopped the bully.


I also hang it in the same tree. It works, he can't guard them both.


 

@HLP 

 

I've since done some reading online and while second and third feeders might do the trick, there's also the possibility that another bully might come along and start guarding the additional feeders!   

 

Funny, but this is my first experience with the bullies.  In the past, hummers would just come along, sip and then be on their way.  

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Re: DEALING WITH "BULLY" HUMMINGBIRDS

@Tinkrbl44    I have a situation exactly like you describe...a bully...but eventually, they all manage to get to the feeder...all is well.

Honored Contributor
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Re: DEALING WITH "BULLY" HUMMINGBIRDS


@sarahpanda wrote:

@Tinkrbl44    I have a situation exactly like you describe...a bully...but eventually, they all manage to get to the feeder...all is well.


 

@sarahpanda 

 

LOL  ...  those guys are so small, yet so determined!  

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Re: DEALING WITH "BULLY" HUMMINGBIRDS

 

Uh oh ......     Well, here's a interesting twist .....  my little Bully is suddenly surprised to see 3 orioles coming and helping themselves to his feeder .... and he just sits in the ficus and watches them drink from it.   They are more than double his size.  

 

I didn't know Orioles liked nectar.    

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Registered: ‎05-15-2010

Re: DEALING WITH "BULLY" HUMMINGBIRDS


@Tinkrbl44 wrote:

 

Uh oh ......     Well, here's a interesting twist .....  my little Bully is suddenly surprised to see 3 orioles coming and helping themselves to his feeder .... and he just sits in the ficus and watches them drink from it.   They are more than double his size.  

 

I didn't know Orioles liked nectar.    


Reading this gave me a strange pleasure.  Like, you can just sit and stew in those ficus leaves.  But then I'm kinda rooting for the little guy too.

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Re: DEALING WITH "BULLY" HUMMINGBIRDS


@stuyvesant wrote:

@Tinkrbl44 wrote:

 

Uh oh ......     Well, here's a interesting twist .....  my little Bully is suddenly surprised to see 3 orioles coming and helping themselves to his feeder .... and he just sits in the ficus and watches them drink from it.   They are more than double his size.  

 

I didn't know Orioles liked nectar.    


Reading this gave me a strange pleasure.  Like, you can just sit and stew in those ficus leaves.  But then I'm kinda rooting for the little guy too.


 

@stuyvesant 

 

Me, too .... I guess this is an example of Hummingbird Bully Karma.    Woman LOL

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Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: DEALING WITH "BULLY" HUMMINGBIRDS


@Tinkrbl44 wrote:

@sarahpanda wrote:

@Tinkrbl44    I have a situation exactly like you describe...a bully...but eventually, they all manage to get to the feeder...all is well.


 

@sarahpanda 

 

LOL  ...  those guys are so small, yet so determined!  


 

It reminds me of a wreck dive I was on once.    All the fishes have areas that are 'theirs' and to defend.   I was just hanging around one side of the ship and this teeny, tiny little fish starts challenging me!  ME, a human adult weighing over 100# and this tiny fish who didn't weigh an ounce!

 

It was kind of cute and I just let him/her peck away at my mask and then I moved on a bit.   I wanted to be respectful, so I moved on, but that's probably the only time any underwater animal tried to tell me to get out, and I've swum with many a shark and even much larger fish and water mammals.   Smiley Very Happy 

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Re: DEALING WITH "BULLY" HUMMINGBIRDS


@chickenbutt wrote:

@Tinkrbl44 wrote:

@sarahpanda wrote:

@Tinkrbl44    I have a situation exactly like you describe...a bully...but eventually, they all manage to get to the feeder...all is well.


 

@sarahpanda 

 

LOL  ...  those guys are so small, yet so determined!  


 

It reminds me of a wreck dive I was on once.    All the fishes have areas that are 'theirs' and to defend.   I was just hanging around one side of the ship and this teeny, tiny little fish starts challenging me!  ME, a human adult weighing over 100# and this tiny fish who didn't weigh an ounce!

 

It was kind of cute and I just let him/her peck away at my mask and then I moved on a bit.   I wanted to be respectful, so I moved on, but that's probably the only time any underwater animal tried to tell me to get out, and I've swum with many a shark and even much larger fish and water mammals.   Smiley Very Happy 


 

 

 

 

@chickenbutt 

 

 

 

 

Swimming with sharks sounds fun and exciting!

 

 

Have you swum with Great Whites?

 

 

 

If so, what was that like?

 

 

I 💜 sharks!

The Sky looks different when you have someone you love up there.
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Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: DEALING WITH "BULLY" HUMMINGBIRDS


@Anonymous032819 wrote:

@chickenbutt wrote:

@Tinkrbl44 wrote:

@sarahpanda wrote:

@Tinkrbl44    I have a situation exactly like you describe...a bully...but eventually, they all manage to get to the feeder...all is well.


 

@sarahpanda 

 

LOL  ...  those guys are so small, yet so determined!  


 

It reminds me of a wreck dive I was on once.    All the fishes have areas that are 'theirs' and to defend.   I was just hanging around one side of the ship and this teeny, tiny little fish starts challenging me!  ME, a human adult weighing over 100# and this tiny fish who didn't weigh an ounce!

 

It was kind of cute and I just let him/her peck away at my mask and then I moved on a bit.   I wanted to be respectful, so I moved on, but that's probably the only time any underwater animal tried to tell me to get out, and I've swum with many a shark and even much larger fish and water mammals.   Smiley Very Happy 


 

 

 

 

@chickenbutt 

 

 

 

 

Swimming with sharks sounds fun and exciting!

 

 

Have you swum with Great Whites?

 

 

 

If so, what was that like?

 

 

I 💜 sharks!


 

OMG, I love sharks too!   I never got to do a great white shark dive.  Smiley Sad  I had one booked out of San Francisco one year.  It wasn't cheap, but it was worth it to me because of my love for sharks and I've been in the water with many other kids.   But, in the last minute, they couldn't get their permit because a bunch of surfers complained.

 

I don't know what their issue was, as the Farallons are 30+ miles OUT from there, but it worked and we didn't get to go.  Smiley Sad   Of course, it was cage-diving.  It would have been the dive experience of my life!

 

One time, IIRC in the Bahamas, I was on this one shark dive where we all jumped out of the boat and had to kneel on the bottom (it was pretty shallow - like probably 20-30 feet) and then they would put out a chum ball for them to feed.   I kept inching in and they had to get me to ove back out.  It was just natural as I wanted to be there with them, but even as it was I was only a couple of feet from all of them.  Most of mine were just regular dives where you were swimming around and the sharks were swimming around.   Awesome!

 

One dive I had a barracuda who spent the whole dive with me.  S/he was swimming right to my side the whole time.   I think my BC had something shiny on it, as I had heard that barracudas like shiny stuff.   Of course, that was awesome too.  Oh man, do I have stories.  The time when I was diving was the best time of my life.  Nothing else comes close.

 

Sorry to go on.  Smiley Happy