Hummingbirds are not your regular birds.   They are not social birds and prefer to live very solitary lives.   They only come together when it is time to mate.   They will reluctantly gather to share nectar at hummingbird feeders.   Hummingbirds do not flock together like other birds or migrate in groups.

    Hummingbirds live in territories that they divide up themselves.    Hummingbirds will aggressively protect his or her area of the territory.   Hummingbirds choose a territory that has plenty of water, food and nectar in that area.   The area is usually a quarter acre in size.   A female hummingbird will build her nest and aggressively defend or fight for her territory the nest is in.   Male hummingbirds will fight for territory to have the rights to mate.

    Hummingbird males are very aggressive and will chase away any male that comes into his territory.   This aggressiveness helps at mating time to remove rivals for females in his area.   Female hummingbirds can also be aggressive.   They will not let males near a nest, due to their brightly colored feathers.   The colors on their feathers may attract predators in the area to the location of a nest.

   To look much bigger hummingbirds will expand their feathers while in a fight.   They extend  their wings and tail feathers to look as big as possible. They also use their beaks and claws as weapons in a fight.   Hummingbirds will chirp warnings at each other when fighting.   They use their bodies to slam into each other in mid air.   They will lock beaks together and spin in circles, sometimes hitting the ground.   On some of these encounters hummingbirds have been known to injure one another, but they usually just lose a couple of feathers when fighting.  Too help hummingbirds from injuring themselves put out numerous feeders.   Space them far apart or better yet close together.  There is no way that one hummingbird can guard all the feeders at one time.   Do not try to stop them from fighting, let them work it out by themselves.   When hummingbirds come close to humans they are not attacking, they are just looking for food.

    When males are ready to find a mate for breeding, they extend their chests and throats.   They do this to show off their brightly colored feathers.   They move their heads from side to side so their feathers will gleam in the sunlight.   Some hummingbird species will even do a dance to attract females for mating.   The male will fly right in front of a female that is sitting on a branch.   He will open his tail feathers wide and stretch out his body so the female can look at him.   He flies back and forth in front of her to show off his strength.

    Some male hummingbirds have been know to do a "courtship dive" to attract the attention of a female.   They will fly sixty feet into the air, turn around and dive as fast as they can to the ground.   They will make a lot of sounds while diving.   When the male gets to one or two inches from the female, he will shoot straight up into the air and do it all over again.   He may do this three or four times before he gets the attention of the female he is after.   When the female has picked out her partner, she will sit on a lamb and spread out her tail feathers for mating.   Hummingbird mating lasts for about four seconds.   When mating is through, they will go their separate ways.   The female will start her nest and the male will look for other females to mate with.

    Hummingbirds are meticulous groomers.   They are very clean and groom themselves every chance they get.   They will use their beaks and claws to clean their feathers.   They have an oil gland on their back.   The oil gland is located  near their tail feathers and they use this oil to help keep them clean.   Sometimes hummingbirds cannot reach places on their bodies, they will rub against twigs to spread the oil.   Hummingbirds will also use twigs in a back and forth movement to clean any pollen or debris from their beaks.      Hummingbirds love to take baths.   They have been know to use birdbaths or rubs themselves with wet leaves after it rains.   They will flap their wings and tail feathers to splash the water over their body.   They will even fly into falling water drops to get as wet as possible.   After they have taken a bath, hummingbirds will clean all their feathers until they are very dry.   Sometimes after a bath they have been known to sunbath.   They will face the sun, puffing out into a ball, stretch out their necks, tail feathers and wings and soak up as much sun as possible.

    Hummingbirds are very smart.   Their brains are large compared to their body size.   They have great memories and know all the flowers in their territory.   They even know when they can return to a flower that has refilled with nectar.   Hummingbirds on their migration path can remember year to year where every feeder is in their territory.   Young females have been known to watch older female hummingbirds build nests to learn how it is done.   Hummingbirds also seem to know who fills the hummingbird feeders. Hummingbirds are intelligent, smart little birds that are a joy to watch.

    Interested in more on hummingbird behavior visit this web site at: http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/humm/jr/JnKidsOverviewTeach.html.   This is a great web site for teaching childern about hummingbirds.

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