Mine - Mine - Mine

After a fantastic Thanksgiving, I spent some time looking for a few territorial hummers Friday. I expected as much, but haven't had much time to look. Sure enough. Three male Anna's at different areas of the yard guarding their bounty.

Here is a guy hogging one of the largest feeders. He runs off anyone who gets near. Six feet from his booty there are 5 feeders on one stand and  14 or so birds feeding away!

One feeder is out of sight below the rest. This is the community  area I guess.

This guy is not even next to a feeding port, just making sure no one else gets any!

This guy sits about 8 feet from 'his' feeder keeping an eagle eye out for ne'er do wells pilfering from his stash. His runs them off (and I mean 'runs them off'! 20-30 yards at least)then comes back to his roost to stand guard some more. The other hummers only chase the offenders for 5-10 feet. What ever gets it done.

I need to re-think my feeder strategy so I am not wasting too much food at the feeders that are being 'Bogarted'

Leaves are Beginning to Fall

It's almost Thanksgiving and the days are still cooling, we're lucky to reach 75 during the day and it's upper forties at nite. We need some rain, none since July and now we are more than an inch below average. The deciduous trees are starting to shed leaves, mostly brown but a few dark reds - but I digress.

There are a few less hummers around and it takes a bit less than a gallon a day to refill the feeders. There are six 'zones' in the yard where the feeders are placed, one corner is a communal area and the birds have no issue sharing the 20 or so perches when feeding in this corner. All of the other areas now seem to be guarded by possessive birds where no sharing is allowed judging by the low rate of nectar consumption at these feeders.