Why Are Hummingbirds Fighting in Tucson?

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The male hummingbirds have arrived, and they are chasing each other around. When the females show up, the males will have staked out their territories and will protect their mates and kids. Near the end of the season, the males will disappear (heading back to South America) and the females will follow in a couple of weeks. Nature is so interesting.
 

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Amazing, isn't it? Cute itty-bitty hummingbirds and cute little koalas are two of the nastiest species on Earth. Put two of those flying assassins together, and they make Snoopy and Manfred von Richthofen look like best friends.
 
Danger said:
Amazing, isn't it? Cute itty-bitty hummingbirds and cute little koalas are two of the nastiest species on Earth. Put two of those flying assassins together, and they make Snoopy and Manfred von Richthofen look like best friends.
A close (departed) friend of mine used to say that if hummingbirds were as big as puppies, nobody would dare to go outside. He was right, IMO.
 
turbo said:
A close (departed) friend of mine used to say that if hummingbirds were as big as puppies, nobody would dare to go outside. He was right, IMO.
No kidding! Those things move faster than greased bacon through a goose's ***, and have a half-inch needle up front. They're like darts from hell.
 
Danger said:
No kidding! Those things move faster than greased bacon through a goose's ***, and have a half-inch needle up front. They're like darts from hell.

I am lucky I haven't been skewered yet. The hummingbirds show up here in the fall. They used to migrate from the mountains in Arizona down into Mexico. There are more and more around every winter leaving me to believe that they are just moving down into the valleys.

A lot of the birds that I have seen are definitely not Arizona natives making me wonder if the migration is no longer going as far south.

In the winter they aren't as feisty. Below is a picture from a cold day last January. There are only four feeding ports on that feeder.

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Above is a picture is from an early morning in January just as the full moon was setting in the west. My cheapo camera wouldn't focus on anything in low light. #$%^&*(
 
turbo said:
The male hummingbirds have arrived, and they are chasing each other around. When the females show up, the males will have staked out their territories and will protect their mates and kids. Near the end of the season, the males will disappear (heading back to South America) and the females will follow in a couple of weeks. Nature is so interesting.
I watched show on hummingbird research in a large enclosure. They were very territorial and would stake claims where the food sources were. To subvert this, the researchers would move the food sources regularly.

You could do this to a limited extent; it might allow a larger population to be maintained in your area.
 
edward said:
Below is a picture from a cold day last January.
Where the hell do you live?! That would be a record-breakingly hot day in January, or a normal day in August. I don't see any ice on their wings, or a metre of snow on the ground.
 
Danger said:
Amazing, isn't it? Cute itty-bitty hummingbirds and cute little koalas are two of the nastiest species on Earth. Put two of those flying assassins together, and they make Snoopy and Manfred von Richthofen look like best friends.
Koalas can fly?
 
Danger said:
Where the hell do you live?! That would be a record-breakingly hot day in January, or a normal day in August. I don't see any ice on their wings, or a metre of snow on the ground.

Tucson Az is my home.

The temperature had gotten down into the 20's the night before. We only hit 55degrees that day. brrrr