The Hummingbird Guard

I was sitting on my mother’s front porch and noticed that several hummingbirds were visiting her feeder. This one, that I happened to get a shot of, would come down to the feeder and then fly off to perch himself on the very top branch of a nearby hemlock tree. He was guarding the feeder. I was watching his behavior for what seemed like an hour and he was watching me too. Every time another hummingbird would come to the feeder he would swoop down and chase it off, “that’s my feeder” he’d say, and “don’t come back” while he was chasing after it through the woods. Within minutes he would be back on his branch at the top of that same hemlock just waiting for another intruder.


What was comical is that while he was busy chasing one off, another would swoop down and have his fill of nectar and be gone before he returned. So I discovered that the one being chased off was a decoy to keep the “guarder of the feeder” busy so everyone else could have a chance at the sweet nectar. I also noticed that they each took turns being the decoy. There were several males and females involved in this elaborate plot to trick the “guard”.


So I got to thinking, maybe if I walked up to the feeder with my camera he would swoop down and try to chase me off too. So I went inside, got my camera and stood just 6 inches away from the feeder. I could see him watching me from his tall branch and sure enough he came down. He made one pass quickly and then back up to his branch he went. He kept watching me, puzzled as to why I wasn’t scared off. I stood motionless and patient with the camera ready for his second attempt to show me who was boss of that feeder. I saw him leave the branch so I started the camera clicking pictures just as quick as it would take them. The time span of this flight was only but a few seconds and I was not hopeful that I had any shots that were decent. But when I went back inside to see what I had captured I was pleasantly surprised.