<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">This is just the beginning of an article published in The NY Times. Too long & too many pix to post the whole article <div><span class="byline-prefix" style="color: rgb(54, 54, 54); font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; caret-color: rgb(18, 18, 18); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><br></span></div><div><span class="byline-prefix" style="color: rgb(54, 54, 54); font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; caret-color: rgb(18, 18, 18); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">By </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/rachel-nuwer" class="last-byline css-ojhyzr e1jsehar0" itemprop="name" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; caret-color: rgb(18, 18, 18); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(54, 54, 54); text-decoration-style: solid; text-underline-offset: 1px; text-decoration-thickness: 1px; text-decoration-color: var(--color-content-quaternary,#727272); display: inline-block;">Rachel Nuwer</a><div dir="ltr"><header class="css-ieftan euiyums1" style="font-size: 16px; margin: 1.5625rem 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; caret-color: rgb(18, 18, 18); color: rgb(18, 18, 18);"><div class="css-1c72mta" style="margin: 0.25rem 20px 0.125rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: calc(100% - 40px); max-width: 600px; display: flex; align-items: flex-end; -webkit-box-pack: justify; justify-content: space-between;"><time class="css-kx0gap e16638kd0" datetime="2025-02-14T05:01:00-05:00" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.8125rem; line-height: 1.125rem; font-family: nyt-franklin, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(54, 54, 54); display: inline-block; width: auto;">Feb. 14, 2025</time></div></header><section name="articleBody" class="meteredContent css-1r7ky0e" style="font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; caret-color: rgb(18, 18, 18); color: rgb(18, 18, 18);"><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-0" style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; flex-direction: column;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 414px;"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 20px 0.78125rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.5625rem; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(54, 54, 54); width: calc(100% - 40px); max-width: 600px;">Hummingbirds are tiny and delicate, but don’t be fooled: They are among <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/05/science/hummingbirds-science-take.html" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(50, 104, 145); text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-thickness: 1px; text-decoration-color: var(--color-signal-editorial,#326891);">the most aggressive birds</a> in the avian kingdom. Their territorial fury is especially aimed at other hummingbirds. Competition over a patch of flowers or a mate often results in high-speed aerial chases, divebombing and beak jousting.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 20px 0.78125rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.5625rem; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(54, 54, 54); width: calc(100% - 40px); max-width: 600px;">So when Gustavo Cañas-Valle, an ornithologist and birding guide, stumbled across a cave full of hummingbirds nesting and roosting together in Ecuador’s High Andes, he could hardly believe it.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 20px 0.78125rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.5625rem; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(54, 54, 54); width: calc(100% - 40px); max-width: 600px;">“I thought, ‘This looks like a colony,’” Mr. Cañas-Valle said. He added, “They were <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/07/science/hummingbirds-bees.html" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(50, 104, 145); text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-thickness: 1px; text-decoration-color: var(--color-signal-editorial,#326891);">like bees</a>.”</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 20px 0.78125rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.5625rem; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(54, 54, 54); width: calc(100% - 40px); max-width: 600px;">He documented 23 adult birds and four chicks,all of the subspecies Oreotrochilus chimborazo chimborazo, commonly known as the Chimborazo hillstar.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.5625rem; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(54, 54, 54); width: calc(100% - 40px); max-width: 600px;">Mr. Cañas-Valle’s discovery, <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://academic.oup.com/auk/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/ornithology/ukae063/7912599?redirectedFrom=fulltext" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(50, 104, 145); text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-thickness: 1px; text-decoration-color: var(--color-signal-editorial,#326891);">described</a> in the journal Ornithology in November, may be the first documented example of hummingbirds that nested and roosted communally. It is also notable that he found the birds engaging in both these behaviors in the same space — something that even highly social species from other bird families tend not to do.</p></div></div></section></div></div></body></html>