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by Darlien C. Breeze
(Las Vegas, NV)
Guard Bird Shame
My black chin hummers come year around. I have one I call the guard bird. He sits on a branch a few feet above the feeder and chases away others who come to feed. I noticed that he sometimes allowed a bird to stay for about thirty seconds before swooping down on them.
One day a little female came. She no sooner settled down to feed than he swooped down and chased her away. They flew about three feet before he turned and returned to his branch. She did a backflip and followed him. He sat quietly on his perch, and she flew within about five inches of him. Her wings were a blur; her beak was going up and down a mile a minute. He looked right and left but never at her.
I don’t speak Hummer, but it was easy to understand what she told him. When she finished, she returned to the feeder and drank her fill. He never left his guard post. I think he was embarrassed.