In happier times….
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It was noticed quite easy this morning there was a crisis in the back garden of garden writer Doug Green. Outraged birds from near and nearer clicked and twittered, buzzing with indignation at Doug while he was making his morning notes.
Green tried to explain to these very unhappy birds that this simply wasn’t his department but the hovering hordes weren’t having any of it.
In a statement to this reporter, Green said the birds were clearly irate and on the edge of losing control of their tail feathers. The outraged chirping in the background backed this up and Green could obviously be concerned for his very safety out there.
Green went on to explain he made a mad dash from his back porch to the feeder, grabbed it in front of the multitudes and ran for his life back to the house one step ahead of those sharp beaked reminders being aimed at more tender southerly parts of his anatomy.
Giving the feeder to the appropriate person in the house Green was heard to muter about being yelled at by a thimble-sized, pea-brain (a comment surely out of character and one that will indeed return to haunt him in future backyard dealings).
Follow up calls to Green have gone unanswered and unreturned but this intrepid reporter will keep you up to date on developments in this story.
Those little buggers can eat 100 times their weight, I swear! We have five feeders and they constantly fight over them! We have counted eight being at the feeders at one time. We started about five years ago with just two! It’s fun to watch them chase each other, chirping and actually body slamming each other!
Don’t know how many hummers you have at one time, but a friend in the mountains of WV has around 20 at one time. Best keep those feeders clean and full.
Linda- they fight and drive each other away but even so, they go through a feeder every second day.
Jude – indeed, the squeaking is pretty funny particularly when they’re chasing away the Baltimore Orioles in the spring who love to perch on one side and drink from the next-door sipper.
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=hjnc1kHMDDo&feature=player_embedded
Gotta love them, pissy, bitchy little jewels that they are.
Ellen – good clip on youtube – thanks for sharing it.
Thank you for the morning smile.
Lydia – you’re welcome
The article – so very timely and delightful after a loong day.
The video clip – simply stunning!!!
I visited a friend in southern Kentucky whose house had a wrap-around porch. My memory estimates at least 8-10 feeders around the house. Watching their antics was much more entertaining than anything else. Sitting in a comfortable chair with drink nearby, can life be any better than that?
Thank you!
The day you wrote this, my hubby was sitting on the front porch near flowering containers where a hummingbird was feeding on pentas. It would feed, turn and look at him – just like your photo! – then go back to feeding, then check him out to make sure he was not doing anything inappropriate…this continued for several minutes…quite a show. Sorry I missed it!
Thanks for such an entertaining post!!