Hummingbird Highway

We never get numbers of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in our backyard, three, four at the most, and that never last for a very long time, as they just don't seem to care much for each other.
Skirmishes quickly erupt between them, with the winner claiming our feeders for a few days.

Our yard is on their migration highway, and has plenty of attractions for them, as the butterfly garden, food, water and cover, keep a steady stream of these little gems at our feeders from mid July until early October, some stay for a day or two, others may protect our yard for a week, as the above juvenile female did a few weeks ago.

As always, click on any of these photos to enlarge.



Another recent youngster.

This young male introduced himself to me this evening, he almost ran us over while we were in the garden, then when I approached the feeder, he boldly came within eighteen inches of my face, gave me a tail wagging display, and I guess realizing that I wasn't going to move, he gave up and went back to his feeding!

He did some nice showing off and didn't mind the camera at all.

This adult male, patrolled our yard from August 16-18, he would not tolerate any other hummers, his was on constant offense. (attack all intruders!)

This bird was incredibly fast, and I never got a good shot of him.