Rubes by Leigh Rubin for September 24, 2023

Our squirrels don’t go after the hummingbird feeder, but they do go after the regular bird feeder (unsuccessfully). They don’t mind the birds and the birds don’t go after them.

And nests. I’ve been dive-hummed on several occasions when I was too near a thorny tree where I believe they had a nest. And when visiting friends whose porch had several feeders hanging from the eaves. They get pretty high up, then tune their wings to “thrum” as loudly as they can and dive right toward you. Only a few feet away, they call “CheeDee” and swoop/thrum back up. It’s disconcerting until you realize they won’t actually stab you.

Squirrels generally lose when up against a hummer.

That is so true. I have been challenged nose to beak a few times by humming birds if I get close to the red bottle.

I had an old Circle K coffee cup with a red lid and one drink hole and a tiny air vent hole. Sitting out in the woods camping and a hummingbird lands on my cup. Quick beak down into the air vent. Quicker beak out, shake of head, flys off. Me laughing. Wife looking puzzled.

We put up feeders every year and they are indeed territorial! We have the window feeder and sit and watch for hours. They are hysterical!

Oh, and if I have forgotten to top off the feeders, they sit and chitter at me lol!

The red food colouring should have served as a warning.

We just put up a feeder this year. It was fun to watch them and funny when other birds tried to use it. I was surprised I didn’t see more aggression from them other than between themselves.

One learned through lesson. The other learned from experience

So I’m having hummingbird vs honey bee wars. The bees don’t like the hummingbirds drinking out of the bird feeders -

aw nuts

What do you say we go for a ride on the spinning/dangling bird feeder?

I hope they didn’t do anything to his nuts.

I’d say a little more than heard!

I, once, saw two hummingbirds copulating at a feeder. Probably never see that again.