We have Anna’s hummingbirds here year round, and I put out a feeder in the winter for them. Whenever I go out onto the deck, I can hear a hummer “chipping” at me, but I don’t know if that’s a warning to stay away from its food or a greeting of some sort. They can be very brave (or aggressive, perhaps) when I’m near the feeder. This morning I stepped out and hung up the feeder, and a hummer flew over near the feeder, chip-chip-chip, then buzzed over to hover within a foot of my face and just sort of stared at me and made his chipping noise.
So is he trying to warn me off, or is there some other behavioral thing going on? My internet search was inconclusive.
I don’t know the answer, but before we put a feeder out here, humming birds would fly up and stare at us while we were on the porch. Like, “hello, why aren’t you feeding us?” When the feeder is empty, they glare at us through the windows until we fix it.
Hummingbirds are the nosiest birds I’ve encountered.
I’ve had them zoom up and hover a few feet away from me when I’m gardening, occasionally chirping. They never actually dive-bomb me or act in a threatening matter. They just want to know what I’m doing.
I’ve had hummingbirds check me out when I’m wearing a red shirt or carrying something that’s brightly colored. I’ve had one follow me around a campground because it was attracted to the red nozzle of my water container.
We too have hummingbirds and once one was being very aggressive every time I approached the feeder–flying and hovering within a few inches of me making a lot of noise. Turned out there was nest right there with babies in it, that she was apparently trying to protect. They are extremely protective mothers & their babies are about the ugliest baby birds you’ll ever see. They look like weird insects.
If it were planning to attack you, you’d know it. Hummingbirds are badass little motherfuckers. The Aztec God of War was represented as a hummingbird for a reason.
I disagree with the word “attack” in this headline. But this is an excellent example of a hummingbird trying to define a vertical plane and ward someone off who is attempting to cross it. Sounds like what you may be seeing.
Also, this is just really cool if you like hummingbirds.
I disagree with the word “attack” in this headline. But this is an excellent example of a hummingbird trying to define a vertical plane and ward someone off who is attempting to cross it. Sounds like what you may be seeing.
Also, this is just really cool if you like hummingbirds.
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Interesting stuff. I wondered about what happens at night; how they survive without feeding that high metabolism. And you’re probably right about it defending its territory, which is what I suspected was the case.
I used to go out every morning and water my garden. Whenever I watered I would have hummingbirds just kind of hover a few inches from my face. I would adjust the hose to a fine spray and hold it up in the air and watch them play in the mist. It started off me just holding the hose up in a mist and it got to the point I felt they were asking me to give them a mist.
We have a number of hummers at our feeders. One little guy with a red head will land on my wife’s shoulder and make soft chirping noises. I think its his way of saying thank you.
I came in to say this. I’ve been told off by ruby throated and Rufous hummingbirds and there was no mistaking what they were trying to convey. If they had human voices they would have been NY cab drivers with Tourettes.
I see photos on the net of lots of hummingbirds around a feeder, but I used to have a feeder (4 fake flowers, no waiting!) and often tried to photograph them, and even though I could sometimes see as many as three in my full field of vision, I’d never be able to photograph more than one at a time because they would always chase each other off within a split-second of there being more than one at the feeder. And even when one wasn’t eating, it would sit on a twig on a nearby tree staring at the feeder, ready to pounce on anyone that came by. Jerks.
