Livermore hummingbirds embrace ‘happy hour’ at feeders

Dear JOAN: We have a few hummingbird feeders set up in the front property. At this time, we have at minimum seven “regulars” and have had as a lot of as 20 or extra through migration seasons. We established up our evening repast with a look at out the window so that we get “dinner and a exhibit.”

All through the day, the hummingbirds are very territorial. A person may well perch on a regional bush and try to travel some others off from the feeder. Although that chase comes about, other hummers opportunistically chow down at the feeder until a person else claims dominance. Alliances sort and dissolve in seconds as hummers — males in particular — attempt to control the straightforward food items. And so it goes in the course of the day into sunset and dusk.

Starting up at dusk and proceeding as a result of the twilight hrs, territorial aspirations appear to be to die down: hummingbirds prevent chasing each individual other and aim on feeding on. It is at this place that we will see four and five hummers on a feeder. As soon as we observed 6 on a feeder with 5 stations.  I have come to check out this as “hummingbird joyful hour”.

Has anybody else noticed this behavior? What drives these remarkably territorial, hostile, possessive animals to breakout in “Kumbaya” and stomach up to the bar for the night?

Sydney Dent, Livermore

Pricey SYDNEY: Hummingbirds, like a lot of creatures, retreat to their sleeping destinations when the daylight fades absent. They fill up on nectar and bugs, and then go to mattress to view reruns of “Murder She Wrote” on little televisions. Oh wait around, that is me.

Hummers go into a deep sleep, named torpor, conserving their vitality right until the new working day commences. Due to the fact their bodies are obtaining completely ready to sluggish down, their aggression about feeding stations may also reduce.

Hummers also are active searching bugs attracted to night lights, so some of the more substantial feeder bullies could be so occupied.

Pricey JOAN: We have a substantial again deck and an overturned folding desk that serves as a birdbath.

The birdbath lies next to a railing that fronts a huge tea rose bush. The bush drops rose petals in the h2o. We enjoy a significant wide range of birds in the bathtub in the mornings at breakfast.

One early morning, I watched a significant robin obtain a amount of rose petals to make a wad in her beak. She dipped the rose petals in the water a number of instances right until the wad was soaked, then flew absent with it. About 2 minutes later on she was back again, dipped the rose petal wad a several far more times and flew absent again.