A Flock of Hummingbirds!

We have two Hummingbird feeders up this year.  Last year we had three, and the year before we put out four.  Caring for a hundred birds at a time gets over whelming - I know, I know, I can hear every one saying, "that's impossible!  I've never seen that many at one time!"  We hadn't either.  We were putting 5 quarts of sugar water a day in four feeders, and they all needed water at different times because the Air Traffic Controller couldn't control who went where to eat!  he he he!

This photo I tried to crop and I cut a couple out of the picture, but there are still 12 showing.  In one photo I counted 35 eating and waiting between the two, but when I tried to enlarge and crop it, well let's just say it's someplace in my photo heaven.  Each feeder has six perches, and many times they will sit two to a perch and take turns drinking.

This photo clearly shows two feeding on the right front side, and then again two on the far left perch.   During the morning and evening we see the majority of them, and they do pick up a bit for a lunch snack.

This photo actually shows three different different breeds sharing water!  Looking straight at us on the right is an Anna with his bright rose iridescence colored head.  Next to him to our left in the back is a Costa.  He has purple on his neck, and just a dollop of purple on top of his head, which only shows when it's up close.  On the far left is a Black Chinned Hummingbird, again, you can't see his dark purple under his neck.  We've also noticed the Allen's Hummingbird, which is very different because it is brown instead of green! 

Again - I know this isn't the norm, however, it is past the breeding season, and they are becoming migratory, so the are sharing without squawking as much!  During the Spring, when they are first arriving or heading north for breeding, they are very territorial.  I have gone out and had to threaten to bat them with a fly swatter if they don't share!  Not really, they pretty much take care of themselves.  When you are feeding hundreds of birds a day, we don't have to monitor, they do a pretty good job of that themselves!

I hope you enjoy one of our pastimes.

Blessings,
Donna