One H'bird taking over..

Grizz1 wrote in post #16907640
The first Hummingbirds arrived here about 2 weeks ago so I put up one feeder with a small amount of food. This feeder is located within 3 feet of a window in my house and a flowering shrub about 10 feet tall is also within 3 feet of the feeder. A male was the first to use the feeder and then more birds came until there were probably 6 or 8. They began fighting and seem to use the shrub as a perch to guard the feeder, in my case it has always been a male that stands guard and will fight anything that comes near. I then put up another feeder about 50 feet away and will add another a week or so from now.

I will eventually place one in my front yard that stands alone away from other perches so they have to fly in, feed and fly away at least for some distance. When I have 3 or more feeders going I never fill them full and replenish the feed often so it stays fresh and clean. This seems to work for me but they do still fight almost constantly. It also seems their fighting over territory/feeders is worse during the early morning hours and late evening.
My Mom feeds them at her farm near mine and they often will perch and feed with as many as 6 birds at one time, this never seems to happen for me. I have always thought it is a good thing these birds are so small with the attitude they seem to have. Now my goal is to get some good shots of these little guys this summer.

Interesting about your mom's feeder-seen shots of several birds at 1 feeder but, like you, doesn't happen around here. Wonder what the secret is?? I did put up a second as mentioned but right now just waiting out this period of cold damp weather that's been around since Tues. (It was 91 on Mon and 55 on Tues!) Have a 3rd feeder which I think I'll put out once it warms up again. See what happens.

I shared this story last year about two male Hummingbirds fighting over a feeder. This one was injured and fell at my feet. He survived for a while after I put him into a hanging planter. Unfortunately he didn't make it through the night. There are a couple more photos of him on Flickr.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/eJFM​pR

SJC from VT wrote in post #16908373
My feeders are in full sun and quickly get moldy, so I have to use a baby bottle brush to clean the sides. The birds stop using the feeders if they get too bad. I never fill my feeders completely, it's just a waste of sugar.

I've seen it before, but again last night I had a Chickadee drinking from the hummingbird feeder. Sometimes the feeders leak, and the other birds position themselves to drink the droplets as they collect under the feeder. Quite comical!

Ha ha-have seen another bird land on the feeder once in awhile but never seen them figure out what to do about it.
I bring my mixture to a slight boil before cooling and bottling. Wonder if that would have any effect on the mold situation? Never really had that problem.

ardeekay wrote in post #16908414
Ha ha-have seen another bird land on the feeder once in awhile but never seen them figure out what to do about it.
I bring my mixture to a slight boil before cooling and bottling. Wonder if that would have any effect on the mold situation? Never really had that problem.

I always bring mine to a boil too, and then let it boil for a couple of minutes. The warmer the weather gets, the quicker the mold develops on my glass and plastic feeders.

ardeekay wrote in post #16908402
Interesting about your mom's feeder-seen shots of several birds at 1 feeder but, like you, doesn't happen around here. Wonder what the secret is?? I did put up a second as mentioned but right now just waiting out this period of cold damp weather that's been around since Tues. (It was 91 on Mon and 55 on Tues!) Have a 3rd feeder which I think I'll put out once it warms up again. See what happens.

Rog, I'm not sure why the HBs act differently for some of us but I'm going to take a wild guess. My Mom has a yard about 3 acres in size and probably close to 1/4 acre is planted in flowers. There will be flowers blooming from March until frost in the fall. There are a large number of trees of various sizes in the yard as well so most of it is in the shade. My yard, though it is quite large, has very few flowers and the afternoon sunlight can make it rather warm(normally).
Having said this, I wonder if the Hummers have less competition for good natural food at my Mom's farm, always a fresh cool drink nearby and at my place the food source is mainly what feed I put out for them, so they try to guard these sources.The natural, scattered flowers would be hard to stand guard over. Most of the feeding at my place seems to take place early and late in the year. I'm again thinking that when there is a good natural food source as there will be when the wild flowers bloom, they quit using my feeders as much and the fighting over them seems to slow.
I have had trouble with my feeders molding too as Sandy mentioned and it is worse during very hot weather and where feeders may be in direct Sunlight more hours during the day. I boil my mixture which helps tremendously, use some prepared food as well, they both will go bad eventually. This is why I try to put out smaller amounts in more locations and keep fresh food for them if possible. If I'm going to be gone for several days I fill them up to the top so they will have enough until I return. I do think once we begin to feed them we should not stop as they become dependent on knowing this is the place for an easy meal. I wonder too, by placing HB feeders as I'm describing, do we attract more birds to a small area than would naturally take up residence if there were no feeders.
This evening I had 12 Ruby throats coming in so the numbers are increasing. The temperatures as Rog stated are decreasing, frosted here last night and will again tonight so the feeders will be used hard this spring as our growing season seems to be running late again this year.

SJC from VT wrote in post #16908408
I shared this story last year about two male Hummingbirds fighting over a feeder. This one was injured and fell at my feet. He survived for a while after I put him into a hanging planter. Unfortunately he didn't make it through the night. There are a couple more photos of him on Flickr.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/eJFM​pR Defeated6429 by sjc from vt, on Flickr

Sandy, for some reason, missed this post yesterday. Always sad to read about such happenings. It's a tough world out there, even for the little guys. Had a male Rose-Breasted Grosbeak fly into my window twice couple of weeks back. Was trying to collect himself on the window sill when I had to leave-upon return, did not find anything so thinking positive. "And the beat goes on!"

Grizz1 wrote in post #16909799
Rog, I'm not sure why the HBs act differently for some of us but I'm going to take a wild guess. My Mom has a yard about 3 acres in size and probably close to 1/4 acre is planted in flowers. There will be flowers blooming from March until frost in the fall. There are a large number of trees of various sizes in the yard as well so most of it is in the shade. My yard, though it is quite large, has very few flowers and the afternoon sunlight can make it rather warm(normally).
Having said this, I wonder if the Hummers have less competition for good natural food at my Mom's farm, always a fresh cool drink nearby and at my place the food source is mainly what feed I put out for them, so they try to guard these sources.The natural, scattered flowers would be hard to stand guard over. Most of the feeding at my place seems to take place early and late in the year. I'm again thinking that when there is a good natural food source as there will be when the wild flowers bloom, they quit using my feeders as much and the fighting over them seems to slow.
I have had trouble with my feeders molding too as Sandy mentioned and it is worse during very hot weather and where feeders may be in direct Sunlight more hours during the day. I boil my mixture which helps tremendously, use some prepared food as well, they both will go bad eventually. This is why I try to put out smaller amounts in more locations and keep fresh food for them if possible. If I'm going to be gone for several days I fill them up to the top so they will have enough until I return. I do think once we begin to feed them we should not stop as they become dependent on knowing this is the place for an easy meal. I wonder too, by placing HB feeders as I'm describing, do we attract more birds to a small area than would naturally take up residence if there were no feeders.
This evening I had 12 Ruby throats coming in so the numbers are increasing. The temperatures as Rog stated are decreasing, frosted here last night and will again tonight so the feeders will be used hard this spring as our growing season seems to be running late again this year.

Hard to compete w/ 2 3/4 A of natural habitat/food source. Had a nice day today, finally, and was out by my main feeder for 1 1/2 hrs. and only had 2 visits. Female of course. Think I got some decent shots-going to upload when I finish up here. And plan to hang that 3rd feeder tomorrow. Anxious to see what happens!