Date: 06/05/2011

Number: 1

What a mess--typical June status quo: lots of male Anna's in the garden but no females; lots of female rufous but only an occasional male (who never stays long). Scads of wasps and white-faced hornets trying to take over the feeders but, at least for right now, the hummers are fighting back. They dance (to confuse the insects?), they try to blow them away with the blast of their wings, and at times charge directly. So far they're winning, meaning they get to feed. Right now, I'm still going through five to ten pound of sugar a week. The photo below is of a female rufous guarding "her" feeder against wasps.

Bellingham, WA

Latitude: 48.7 Longitude: -122.5

Observed by: John
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