This doesn't quite capture what's been happening over the past week or so at the feeders on our deck. We had put up two of these feeders at the beginning of the summer and received a few visitors, who would invariably drive each other away from the feeder as soon as one started to eat.
Gradually, we began to see more and more hummers, and they appeared to be all females, vying for ownership of each feeder. One would sit nearby, watching, and as soon as another started to feed, would chase it off with a display of tail feathers.
As even more birds came around, the feeder ownership was abandoned for ownership if the individual "flower" stations. That's when the males started to come around regularly.
It's been so hot here (over 100 F for over a week) I wonder if that is the reason we are getting about 15 to 20 birds coming around, all at the same time! It's quite a show.
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L had a pretty good first week; all teachers acceptable, classmates good. New cafeteria/student center wreaking havoc with lunchtime, though. They have to get in and out really quickly. I'm liking the time back to getting work done, with no, "what's for lunch, anyway?" to add to the to-do list.
