[Tweeters] Hummers sharing feeder

[Faye McAdams Hands via Tweeters]

Hi  Joan & Mark,
I was just reminded of your posts this morning as I saw 2 females on my deck feeder and 1 male on my feeder by the fence, both in my backyard. When the male finished his breakfast, he flew over to the feeder on the deck and chased off the 2 females and then flew off himself.....screaming something like 'cooperation is over-rated'......I couldn't quite tell from inside my house.

This also reminded me of a time 2 years ago, during a snowy January day, I had 7 females on the deck feeder! (with only 5 ports to drink from). This portion of the deck is covered, so protected from rain, snow and much wind. They all sat for quite awhile, all equidistant apart, and occasionally taking a sip of sustanence.

Happy Birding,
Faye

Faye McAdams Hands

Belfair, WA
zest 4 parus AT hotmail dot com

Life is Simple -- Eat, Sleep, Bird.

________________________________
From: Tweeters <tweeters-bounces at mailman11.u.washington.edu> on behalf of Mark Reinitz via Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2026 10:55 AM
To: Joan Miller <jemskink at gmail.com>
Cc: tweeters at u.washington.edu <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Hummers sharing feeder

Hi.

My wife and I were just talking about the same thing! There were 2 females on the feeder this morning. This has happened several times lately. There were even times when a male sat on a nearby branch without shooing them away. Not something we’ve seen often.

Mark Reinitz
Sent from my iPad

On Feb 24, 2026, at 10:35 AM, Joan Miller via Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:


Hi Tweets

This winter hasn't been that bad, but I have seen many more instances of more than one hummingbird at a time at my feeder. They never used to tolerate another at the same time. Now I see two and occasionally a third using the feeder at once (there are four ports). Always females, but once in a while a male will join them. I think it's unusual. Maybe this behavior will change in spring and summer.

Anyone else notice this sharing behavior?

Joan Miller
West Seattle
jemsink at gmail dot com
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