Date: 08/27/2020

Number: 2

I watched 2 ruby-throated humming birds arial dance for 30 minutes. They were not seriously defending the feeder, which hangs outside my kitchen window under my porch. I took over 60 photos of the pair, trying to capture this behavior. The photo is blurry as were most of the photos. It was difficult to get a clear photo of the very active tykes. Often, while one would perch on the feeder, briefly, the other would hover over the feeding bird and then the two would fly about together again around the feeder. I saw no aggressive defending of the feeder jar for the entire time.

There was little sugar water in the feeder and there was a fuller one just around the corner of the house porch, a few feet away. But neither left to sip from this feeder.

They just kept flying around and around - up and down. only perching for a second or two before continuing this dual flight pattern. Quite a bit of energy must have been used up by the two.

I think, perhaps, these were immature Ruby-Throats exercising to develop their muscles for the long migration to come.

I welcome ideas and possible ideas as to why these birds were just flying about the feeder for such a long time without any significant perching time used to sip the sugar water.

Arcade, NY

Latitude: 42.6 Longitude: -78.4

Observed by: Donna
Contact Observer

The observer's e-mail address will not be disclosed.
Contact will be made through a web-based form.