Children view behavior of hummingbirds eating

HOLDEN – One morning, a girl in the Fields Pond Audubon Center camp noticed an interesting series of events. She saw an adult male ruby-throated hummingbird sitting in a tree next to a hummingbird feeder.

Whenever another hummingbird approached the feeder, this male hummingbird would sweep in and scare away the others. This happened again and again.

All the other campers gathered around as the girl explained what she was seeing. This young child, an astute observer and a born leader and teacher, noticed that the adult male was apparently satiated, because not once did she see him feed from the feeder.

She inferred that this aggression was not about present hunger – he was defending his territory.

Then the youngsters noted some interesting behavior. A handful of other hummingbirds were flying and perching within 10 feet of the feeder. They were females, or this year’s young of either sex – it’s hard to tell the difference.

They were so active, it also was hard to count them. One hummingbird would swoop in and try to drink the sugar water in the feeder. The territorial adult male would fly down from his perch and chase the interloper away.

While the first hummingbird was being chased away, another would dive toward the feeder and drink as quickly and as much as it could. Every time the adult male hummingbird had chased away one intruder, he would find that another had landed on his feeder and was drinking from it. He would then chase that bird.

One after the other, at least four young female hummingbirds managed to steal a meal from the adult male hummingbird who tried to dominate a food source. The children wondered whether this could be cooperative behavior of less dominant birds to gain access to the feeder.

One feisty hummingbird did not fly away when the adult male came at it. Instead it sat on the feeder drinking as much as it could. The campers then got to see exactly how the adult male hummingbird defended its claim.

The territorial male hovered behind the headstrong hummingbird and began to peck it on the head. After a few pecks of that long, sharp bill, the hummingbird flew away.

Seeing this bird’s behavior up close fascinated the campers and gave them insight into how hummingbirds live and interact with one another.

It gave them a new respect for the ruby-throated hummingbird – tiny, but feisty.

Late August is the time thousands of hummingbirds migrate through Maine on their way to southern Florida, Caribbean islands or the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico. You can sometimes see a dozen at a time at the Fields Pond Audubon Center – but they move fast. Counting them is not easy.

The best hummingbird viewing is from inside the building, which is open to the public 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, and 1-5 p.m. Sundays.

For information on Fields Pond Audubon Center, call 989-2591.