My inlaws live South of Atlanta, away from the city on some acreage. They have four hummingbird feeders, and go through up to a quart of the sugar water each day. I thought they must be exaggerating when they described the scene outside their windows, but this weekend I saw it for myself. As usual, my photos don't do justice to the real thing. Video would have been better. (Another toy to add to the wish list.)
My conservative estimate is that there are 12 individual birds visiting their feeders. In spite of the overabundance of feeding options, they are constantly squabbling and fighting and engaging in amazing feats of aerial combat, all the while buzzing like giant bumblebees and emitting high frequency chittering sounds. There were frequent storms the day we visited, but not even a deluge of rain would keep them away.
There are 7 birds visible in this photo (and an 8th one that is mostly hidden). Can you find them all?
It may not be obvious, but the bird sitting on top is by far the heaviest of the lot. Why? He spends most of his time sitting in that spot, chasing all the other birds away, and the rest of the time draining that feeder. He's definitely at the top of the pecking order in this flock.
4 comments:
How cool! The last shot really is awesome.
awesome photos. I only see 7 in the first photo.
Glad ya like! And yah, the 8th bird is basically invisible - he's behind the far feeder. I only know he's there cuz I was taking multiple shots at a time, and he is more visible in some of the other frames.
Dude, I just spent the last 45min skimming your blog, really nice stuff! I had no idea you did so much globe-trotting. The bee photo above is just perfect. Anyways... see you at lunch/dinner today ;)
Post a Comment