[Tweeters] Hummers sharing feeder

[Joan Miller via Tweeters]

Hi Faye,

That's so funny. So far, I have not seen the male here really chase off the
females. That surprises me. Yesterday there were 3 females!

Joan

On Wed, Feb 25, 2026 at 9:04 AM Faye McAdams Hands <zest4parus at hotmail.com>
wrote:


> 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

> _______________________________________________

> Tweeters mailing list

> Tweeters at u.washington.edu

> http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters

>

>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20260225/e3fbfc7c/attachment.html>