KAMAKAZEE HUMMINGBIRD

I assume it is a he because of his bad attitude! (lol) But he is brightly colored, so I am not sure. But he even fights away wasps that are close to it. My mother was standing about a foot a way from the feeder & he hovered in her face. she swatted like a bug & he still came back!! There are several other smaller ones that have to fight to get a sip. There are also several other feeders in the area, but apparently this one is HIS!! It is quite entertaining, but he did a fly by my youngest ear yesterday. They may be little but I bet it would hurt like hades if you got bombed by one in the head @ 100 mph. Any one else seen this?

I have, but usually it is with other hummingbirds. Ive noticed when there are more than one, usually about three of them, that one is dominant. They are fun to watch and ive had them hover around my red cap. Amazing birds. But i havent had one dive bomb me lol....

quote:

Originally posted by pain&panicsmom:
can some one explain to me why this thing "dive bombs" any one or any thing that comes near the feeder.

Hummingbird's are extremely territorial. I have five that seem to come back every year. They fight all day long over a feeder I have hanged just outside my kitchen window. They have provided endless entertainment as I cook or wash dishes.

Recently, the family and I were in the kitchen watching them through the window. They were, as usual, buzzing back and forth trying to dominate and chase each other off. As we watched, one bird landed on the feeder and just sat there. We thought he might be injured because he didn't move even as some other other dive-bombed him.

As we watched, another hummer zoomed up and hovered in front of the injured bird for a second as if contemplating what do do. Then in an instant, she stabbed his entire needle-like beak into the sitting bird's eye socket! The attacker withdrew and DID IT AGAIN then flew off.

All of us gasped and were nearly floored at what we witnessed. My sweet little "friends" (as I called them) had turned into evil little murderers.

As we continued to look through the window, the injured bird just sat there. I thought he may might be dead so I went outside to take a look. When I got within reach he flew away. I never saw him again.

I can still stand right beside the feeder and they will feed without seemingly noticing me. I guess they know me. They've never bothered me at all.

The feeder I have is the same one I use year after year and I hang it in the same place each time. In the winter I take it down but when I see the birds arriving in the spring, they're hovering around where the feeder should be, so then I know it's time to put it back out. These past few weeks there have been at least 4 of them "fighting" over the feeder, when one shows up the other will zoom in real fast and then they'll both fly off. They are fun to watch but I don't recall them ever make a straffing run on me. It's neat when I'm out on the deck and these things will hover right in front of me like they're trying to tell me something.

I have about half a dozen feeders and my hummingbirds will buzz me if I walk around the house.

I've had the little critters fly up to the storm door and just hover looking in. I believe they are very curious.
I have noticed that the male seems to want to keep the females away from the feeder. Males have the red throat, females don't .
I have had them dive at me when their feeder was out.

we have two feeders at our sons grave site on poles, one on each end of his stone. I was changing the feeders one after noon & one landed on my finger , he just sit there for a while looking around , & flew off, as many as 25 to 30 some times out there, we have 3 feeders at our house .

I don't have as many hummingbirds this summer. I had Carolina jessamine on my deck and a feeder along the rail. I was weaving the jessamine through the railing and raised my head up just in time to very, very narrowly miss being stabbed in the eye by a passing hummingbird.

I just figured that when I die it'll be something bizarre like that - stabbed through the eye into the brain by a hummingbird beak - on a Thursday.