19 Comments on “And Now To Close Out August 2016, Please Accept These Pictures of Two Delightful Hummingbirds”

1. Hey, it’s Zippy the Ambush Bird! One of the Ruby Throated hummingbirds we had around here would hide out in the bushes near one of the hb feeders & would come rocketing out to chase any bird that came anywhere close to any of the feeders in the back, so he got nicknamed Zippy the Ambush Bird…

2. We have a “Zippy” too only we just call it “Ruby Throat.” There are probably three or four competing humminbirds fighting over our feeders and it’s so much fun watching their fierce arial battles. When you get a closeup look you can see they’re pretty scared up from picking at one another with those needle-nose beaks! This is in South-Central Indiana just west and slightly south of Scalzi.

3. Strange. To me hummingbirds are like unicorns: I have seen exactly two in my life.

4. We have warring hummingbirds at our place. I have 3 feeders put out and each one is “owned” by a bird. Any time any of the others try to approach, there’s much zipping and zooming about as one is chased off. Hummingbirds are weird. :)

5. @sean crawford:
   You’ve seen two unicorns??!!

6. We have hummingbirds year round (and multiple species) but every sighting is still a genuine thrill. The nightly wars at our multiple feeders are epic.

7. I live in a place where the state bird is the seagull. Haven’t seen a humming bird since we left Northern California. Thank you for this.

8. Wow. Well done! We had a flock of hummingbirds a few weeks ago–anywhere from six to eight, fighting like mad (as hummingbirds do) over two feeders, and I could come close to getting such a clear and focused picture.

9. A dear friend owner a cabin at Parker Lake in southeastern Arizona. We spent a couple of weekends in this serene place. He had hummingbird feeders, and at sundown they would come to drink at his feeder. Fifty, a hundred, who knows. A swarm.

   I crept slowly up and was accepted by them from less than a foot away. Several literally flew up and hovered between me and their feeder, studying me and concluding my presence was tolerated, eyeball to whirring wings.

   Breathtaking. A surreal moment that everyone needs to try and experience. My spouse has pictures, but our interactions were brief and literally on the fly. I will never forget it.

   My dear friend died later last year, and I gave his funeral discourse at his request. But he gave me far more than I could give him: precious moments with him and one magical sunset with his hummingbirds.

10. Love it. Hummingbirds are certainly as ferocious as they are beautiful. Imagine if they were the size of pigeons instead of the size of your thumb.

11. Is there any such thing as a NON-delightful hummingbird? That said, those are beautiful shots.

12. Where do you find such incredible feeders? I have a plethora of hummingbirds and three feeders, but none of my hummingbird feeders appear to be of the quality that you have. Currently I have to add between a quart and a half gallon of nectar per day. I would love have new feeders of a similar design to those.

13. I had some sunflower seeds I was going to put in my backyard, but they failed to germinate and after a month or so I gave up. So I found some miniature, 2-3 foot sunflower seeds and put them in the same starters. Once I saw them starting, I planted them in the front yard. Of course it was the full sized plants finally germinating. Full sun, good irrigation from the gutters, and they shot up 12′ or more. Too much for the front yard, really…. But (finally getting to the point) watching the hummingbirds dig the seeds out of the flowers directly in front of our second story bedroom window was *awesome*.

14. “Couldn’t” come close! I COULDN’T come close to taking such great pictures, not COULD! Argh!

    Still lovely shots.

15. Marisa, that looks like a feeder I saw at Lowe’s not long ago. Maybe if you google “handpainted hummingbird feeders”? (Sorry for the serial post, John–I just noticed Marisa’s question and realized I could answer it.)

16. We planted black and blue sage this year, which was a big hit for our local hummingbirds (and bumblebees, but the hummingbirds are on topic).

17. We have a hummingbird feeder right outside a small window in the living room. It’s fascinating to watch them (and they can’t see us through the window, so they don’t get spooked). Until we put the feeder there, I never saw a hummingbird simply at rest (just perched, not flying.)

18. We have been feeding hummingbirds on both our front and back porch areas for several years. I love to watch them.

    Summer 2015 brought one interesting experience. I was sitting motionless in a chair on the front porch, wearing drab clothing as is my habit. A tiny hummingbird flew up directly in front of my face and proceeded to hover for quite a while inspecting me. Then it flew over to my left side and looked some more, then to my right side for yet more perusal. Next, it returned to directly in front of my face where it looked at me for a few more seconds. Finally, the bird apparently decided that I wasn’t a flower or other source of food, and went over to the feeder for a few sips of nectar.

    Later, it dawned on me that the bird must have been bamboozled by my big red nose!

19. If you are on the East Coast, I would recommend keeping the feeder up for two weeks after your last sighting. The feeders help out stragglers, late hatchlings and migrants. You might not see your territorial bird any more, but the odd ones can fuel up on their way to the Gulf, even you don’t happen to catch them doing it. (In fact if your territorial bird was a mature male, he probably left a month ago and you’ve been watching opportunistic new birds or expansionist females battle over the “juice” through August. Cue the Hummingus: “There has been too much violence. Too much pain. But I have an honorable compromise. Just fly away. Give me your perches, the nectar, the ants and the whole compound, and I’ll spare your lives. Just fly away and I’ll give you a safe passageway in the wastelands. Just fly away and there will be an end to the horror. “)