Bitch slapped by a hummingbird.

[The Backlash Cometh]

Yesterday, when the temperature was 103 degrees, I had massive hummingbird activity. I saw one flying to the blue-black salvia every 15 minutes. Later in the afternoon, I realized there were two of them when one of them chased the other away. Because I'm aware that the blue-black salvia is the only plant out there they seem to be attracted to, I went out to trim out the old blooms, hoping to encourage new growth. In less than a minute, a hummingbird came down to check on me. She wasn't more than three feet away eating from the open blooms, cautiously getting closer before flying off. I thought that was cool and kept removing the spent blooms. But she came back and this time, she approached me to drink out of one of the spent blooms I had in my hands! I think she was trying to tell me, "Hey, don't throw anything away!"

Does anyone know if Hummingbirds come for the blooms only? Or after the blooms fall off, do they have use for the thingie part that holds the bloom?

[Gormy Cuss]

1. They're coming for the nectar in the blooms

and for tiny little birds they can be amazingly fearless around humans. I've had them come within inches of me when I'm wearing certain brightly colored shirts.

If you want them to keep coming around buy a hummingbird feeder and for the future, plant more flowers!

eta: we had a feeder next to the patio and the birds would feed even while we were sitting only three feet away.

[Inchworm]

2. Yup, with their cool little tongues

:P

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. It would figure to keep the stems that still have blooms,

But what about the stems where the blooms have fallen off already? There's still a cup-like holdie thingie where the bloom grew out of. Are those stems okay to remove?

[Gormy Cuss]

4. Some salvias produce more bloom stems after deadheading.

Experiment with yours and see what happens. The cup holders don't have any nectar and thus won't be useful to the hummers or butterflies.

[TZ]

10. They are very bold

I swatted at one once thinking it was a bumblebee (we rarely got them where I was) and was astounded to see it hovering less than a foot from my face a few seconds later.

[Fire Walk With Me]

11. Then it opened up on you with its tiny machine gun, forever changing the way you view them.

Or sompin'.

:hide:

[sarge43]

12. They're maniacal.

"Any time, any place, any thing."

The Aztecs deemed them an avatar of their god of war.

They've been seen taking on crows, hawks, even eagles and driving them away.

[quakerboy]

19. the moral being its ok to fight with someone bigger

if you happen to be exponentially faster than they are.

[Blue Diadem]

5. Cool birds aren't they?

You should hear them squawk if you get in their flight path! One almost hit me in the forehead a few years ago, he/she did her hummingbird shriek and stopped and hovered a second, then happily flew off. They usually stop to say hello while we're on our porch too. Amazing how they can stop so fast then take off so quickly.

As far as I know they come for the nectar. Once they know an area, they'll keep coming back, it seems to get programmed into their flight schedule.

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. I'm falling in love with them.

[Blue Diadem]

15. It's easy to do.

Hummingbirds and of all things dragonflies seem to be social with humans. Which reminds me, I have to clean out the hummingbird feeders today and make them some nectar.

[sarge43]

6. If she has a nestling, she may have been looking for tiny insects.

Those are fed to the kids for a protein boost.

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. Would they still have babies this late in the summer?

[sarge43]

9. Sure.

They can have two to three clutches per season, depending upon the length of the season. From egg drop to combat is on average two months.

The adults will eat some insects, too.

[XemaSab]

13. Sounds like you need more salvias

:)

[REP]

14. See below

[TZ]

16. Thats a GREAT picture!!

:wow:

[REP]

18. I've got an ass load more on my homepage; I can photograph flowers and hummingbirds

[MicaelS]

17. I love hummingbirds....

EXCEPT when they fly too close to my head without warning. Then I tend to freak out.

[JCMach1]

20. Hummers are some of the meanest birds... they fight like rabid wolverines