Hummers

My person and I enjoy watching the hummingbirds at the feeder. We frequently see them there, feeding or swooping around. At first we thought a lot of different hummingbirds were feeding at the feeder, then one day we figured out what was really happening. A lot of different hummingbirds do come to the feeder, but there’s one of them, a male, who acts like the feeder is his. Whenever another bird tries to feed there, he swoops in and chases it away. Then he perches on the feeder and eats to his heart’s content. Then he flies away and perches in the birch tree nearby where he can keep his beady little eye on the feeder and make sure no other bird gets to eat there. Now that we know what is going on, we see it happen frequently. That bossy little guy is often hanging out nearby, in the birch tree or sometimes the hydrangea bush, protecting “his” feeder. My person is a little bit upset about this. She says she intended the feeder to be for all the hummingbirds, not just one greedy one. But I think I can understand why he’s acting that way. I mean, if another parrot tried to stick his beak into my food dish, you can be sure I would squawk at the top of my voice and chase him away. I mean, after all, your food dish is your food dish, right? What could be more important than that?