anyone else have a jerk hummer

[juanbenae]

rule their feeder? Has been ruining my experience for years, you know that one bird who bullies and chases off all the other customers?

I found some $3 feeders at dollar general, filled all three of them setting them about 60' apart and am watching my jerk spend more time running off the others from them than enjoying that sweet, American grown sugar water. No brown or powered sugar as I've heard..

How do you guys deal with a jerk hummer? I just want them to all get along while enjoying the hung nectar dispensers.

[LWJ]

yes!

No idea. My MIL has a fricken SWARM of them. Not me, I have a territorial jerk.

Waiting to see a great response.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I opened this thread to see what a jerk hummer was. Not exactly what I expected….

[pavulon]

How to Stop Territorial Behavior
An old rule of thumb when it came to addressing bully hummingbirds was to separate the feeders from each other. However, by placing feeders in separate areas, the bird enthusiast may be encouraging more bullies to claim the territory. The real answer to hummingbird harmony is to add more hummingbird feeders and place them in clusters.

By creating more feeding zones, some of which will be out of sight of the others, a dominant hummingbird cannot defend every feeder. Additionally, the fighting and feeding sounds that hummingbirds make will attract more hummingbirds to a yard.

Long-time hummingbird bander and one of Alabama’s foremost bird experts, Bob Sargent, suggests to start increasing the numbers of hummingbird feeders around July 4th. This is when nesting is ending and the first southbound migrants are arriving in large numbers.

If one hummingbird is the primary bully, it’s also a good idea to locate its favorite hiding spot. Bully hummingbirds usually maintain a good vantage point to watch and defend their territory. Try removing the perch or pruning the branch that it typically uses. This will help to prevent it from chasing away other hummingbirds.


https://www.woodstreampartnerportal.com/articles/how-to-stop-aggressive-hummingbirds#:~:text=Yes%2C%20it's%20true%2C%20man y%20hummingbird,a%20challenge%20for%20your%20custo mers.

[cabmandone]

Aren't they all like that? I've watched two of them fly up to the same maple tree, one flies down to the feeder and the other immediately zooms in to scare the first one off. I rarely see two at the same feeder.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

I opened this thread to see what a jerk hummer was. Not exactly what I expected….

With much trepidation ... I clicked

Birds are a-holes ... almost all of 'em ... I just watch them go at it ... air wars

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

I opened this thread to see what a jerk hummer was. Not exactly what I expected….

I was curious as well!

My wife plants several flower beds of flowers. The biggest area with two flowerbeds separated by just the sidewalk often has several hummingbirds and tons of butterflies and bees and bumblebees feasting.

The hummers chase each other around, but there are so many other plants that they can hide from the bullies, and feast.



Just some of the front yard beds. Several more all over the yard.

[cabmandone]

I got a jerk hummer while getting lucky on a project car and now I have a divorce question. Three thread titles blended into one post.... not bad. .

[911 Rod]

Zap em!

[Tobra]

Plant more stuff they like

[juanbenae]

Originally Posted by 911 Rod

Zap em!

Mine will buzz me, real close to my head if I walk too close to the feeder on the patio.

[Tobra]

Just because they are small and cute, it does not mean they are not going to war over territory

[Scott Douglas]

We have one that rules the yard pretty much. Sits on the power lines and keeps an eye out for intruders. We don't have a feeder, just flowers and those have diminished since we took out the lavender plants a couple years ago.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

I opened this thread to see what a jerk hummer was. Not exactly what I expected….

I assumed he left out the "and" in the middle...

And "yes."

[cjh]

I walk out onto the porch after filling the feeder and they are in your face until you hang it up.

[LWJ]

Pavulon for the win! I (stupidly) didn't pay attention to the fact that this is EXACTLY what my MIL does. Multiple, clustered feeders. And, she has SWARMS.

Thank you.

[mjohnson]

Our locale in the New Mexico mountains gets tons of the hummy buggers. They're all pretty mellow until the orange and basically 100%-jerk Rufous ones show. At least here they seem to come late and leave early so that there's a month on each end with peace.

The advice on managing perching spots for them to "overwatch" multiple feeders seems spot-on. I hadn't considered multiple collocated feeders - I might give that a try.

Casual observers might not know it, but those things love insects. It's cool to just lie in the grass looking up at them slaying the bugs.

[juanbenae]

HA, huge break through news today!!! A new bird showed up and is not taking any guff from the resident Jerk Hummer.... Stands his ground, iirr maintains his hover while the JH tries to bully him like they were in PARF or something. The JH will retreat up onto the line that holds my patio sunshade and chirp his arse off until the newcomer has his fill of that sweet nectar and flies off. Looks like the JH has met his match. Only one feeder has any sweetness in it right now so I'm being thoroughly entertained.

It's the simplest things in life that make it worth living...

[The Synergizer]

You got to know your birds
If it's a little tiny Rufus they will run everyone else away. Flashing copper gang colors?

"The Rufous Hummingbird is a common visitor to hummingbird feeders. It is extremely territorial at all times of year, attacking any visiting hummingbird, including much larger species. They’ve been seen chasing chipmunks away from their nests.

[Steve Carlton]

This guy was crowding me.