Dueling Hummingbirds Feeder Ballet

Several days ago Joan and I were treated to a fascinating pre-migration hummingbird behavior. We know that the hummers are in a different mindset now; the feeder, which a month ago was drained by early evening, is now still half full when Joan empties and refills it with fresh sugar water each day.

Two hummingbirds, one male and one female, were both interested in our large hummingbird feeder (we have two). Each could not or would not drive the other one away permanently, but was also too uncomfortable to share the feeder. This led to a repetitive, chaotic behavior that went on for a couple of hours. I caught about 2½ minutes of it with my camera.

Two Hummingbirds in a Standoff Ballet from Ben Branch on Vimeo.

Here is a still frame from the video, to generate a good thumbnail for Blogger.

The things we see outside our kitchen window!