In article ,
"Padraig" wrote:

Don't misunderstand: I know that under some circumstances more than 3
hummers may appear at one location at the same time. I have seen
photographic evidence of that myself and if I recall, I think I remember you
saying your family lived on a hummingbird migration route when you were in
California. Maybe my memory is faulty about that but I concede hummingbird
migration routes probably do exist - for the breeds that migrate anyway.
Remember, mine are Anna's hummers and they don't. They're year-round birds.
I almost never see any other kind in my yard. I am certainly not on any
kind of migration route so what I said applies to my situation. And it's
also true that most hummers except for migration season do not usually hang
out together. They're too competitive and combative for that. Heck, even
the males and females can't stand each other except for a little while they
get together in breeding season. In the case of Anna's hummingbirds the
male's sole function is to fertilize eggs. Then he's outta there. He does
not participate in any family upbringing chores.

Generally speaking I think any hummer I see in my area is going to be a
"loner".
--
Paddy's Pig
------------
To reply its bell not bull

Apologies... did not mean to contradict you!

I guess we were lucky in our area. We had Anna's, Ruby throats, Rufuses
and some with a beautiful Golden throat I cannot remember the name of.
We also had the occasional Baltimore Oriel tilt the feeder from the
perch to run nectar into their beaks. They were beautiful!

From the looks of the pic Tom posted, he also may have been on a route.

This past migration season, someone sent me a pic of a coastal migration
area where a woman held a bowl of sugar water in her hands and had the
birds landing on her hands around the bowl to feed before they flew
across the gulf. I was unable to save them tho' as the file types were
not mac compatible.

I do know that some hummers stayed with us in the summer and nested in
our oak trees. The nests were too high for mom to photograph tho' as dad
tended to overdo it with the pruning hights.

I also remember watching the aerial mating dances.

Hummingbirds are fascinating!

And yes, territorial. Mom used to discourage the "feeder pigs" with a
sprayer nozzle on the hose, but not enough to hurt them, just enough to
drive them off.
--
Peace, Om

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"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson