begun putting things in its rightful place for the week.
When you pack for a week and you are moving into a small cabin “stuff” placement inside to ensure room enough to move around is vital! We hadn’t been organizing long when we noticed him for the first time. He was perched on the porch rail fixated intently on the feeder. “look a little hummingbird”
Lisa commented “yup” I replied with little to no interest.
We went about our business of settling into the camp without another thought of our tiny friend.
Each cabin was adorned with a feeder so hummingbirds were everywhere. It was a cloudy day, even a little misty so once we finished unpacking, we decided to sit at the table, which was positioned in front of the main window, for a while and relax. It was at that time we started to really notice our little friend. He was not only still sitting on the rail, still facing the feeder directly but he was twitching his head left to right in a constant pattern. It wasn’t long before another hummingbird flew in to try to feed at the feeder. At that time our little warrior shot off the rail and intercepted the rival in mid-air chasing it away. Within seconds our friend was back on his perch, beak pointed skyward, aimed at the feeder.
“Well,” lisa said. “He’s not very friendly is he!” “Nope” I muttered as I was busy studying the map planning our fishing trip for the next day and had little interest in the anti social behavior of a northern Maine Hummingbird.
Over the next 5 days, it became evident that this hummingbird was on a mission and had a purpose. He would be on the rail before we got up in the morning and would be there all day. Tirelessly chasing away any and all invaders who tried to feed at HIS feeder. OVER and OVER again, dozens of times a day he would chase off would be raiders. Never letting up, never taking a break! He would feed when he wanted but most of his time was spent fighting off and chasing away other hummingbirds. He never lost a battle! Truly strange behavior. I have witnessed hummingbirds fighting at feeders before but never have I witnessed one stake a claim and tirelessly fend off rivals all day long ! “Rather greedy little bugger isn’t he” I said to Lisa one evening. “There is enough food there to feed 10 hummingbirds all summer and he wont share a drop.”
The more I watched my little friend the more calculated and rhythmic his actions became. After every air battle, he always landed back on the rail in almost the exact same spot, directly facing the feeder.
He would puff up his feathers to make himself look twice as big as he was and then he would just sit there twitching his head back and forth scanning the sky waiting for the next invader to approach. Same process, same spot, same puffing of feathers, same mid-air battles, over and over and over again. All day long! He was ALWAYS the victor! No hummingbird ever got near his stash.
You will see two pictures below. The top one was his ordinary position all day long. Beak pointed straight at the feeder which was less than 2 feet away and scanning the sky for invaders.
The second photo is an example of the incredible dedication he had for his mission or was it greed? Lisa nicknamed him David, after the biblical David who took on the giant and won. I called him Attila the Hun, to me our little friend acted more like the fierce ruler of the Hun’s clan from 1600 years ago. Our little guy was small but fierce and fearless for sure. He even attacked a squirrel who attempted to reach the feeder one day and won!
In the second picture, It is late one evening. The sun is long gone, it is a very cold and breezy evening even for Maine standards and yet there he is. Never leaving his post, never giving up the fight until darkness drives him off to some safe perch for the night. What manner of thought can drive such a
small and pretty bird to act so obsessively? He became a daily fixture of both entertainment and wonder for us as the days went on.
We watched him all week and the story was the same, day in and day out, from before the sun would rise, till way after the sun went down, he was at his post fighting off any who would dare touch his feeder.
Our trip ended on Sunday, June 2, which just happened to be our anniversary date. 35 years ago it was
a rainy and stormy day. June 2, 2019, did not disappoint. The rain had moved in overnight and the only
rain of our entire trip was now falling as we prepared to leave the paradise. Seemed fitting I thought to
myself.
As Lisa opened the curtain to let the light in to our little camp she exclaimed. “look”! There sitting on the rail was our warrior still puffed up, in his same spot aimed directly at the feeder, beak in the air. Just like he had been all week hundreds of times before. Only today in the rain sitting next to him was a small female! We watched as the two sat there both looking at the feeder. Soon the female flew up to
drink and our little warrior never flinched from his perch. Another rival tried to feed at the same time as the female but our warrior would have none of that and like he had done hundreds of time over the week he dispatched him immediately and went back to his post on the rail. When the female was done eating she went back to the rail and perched next to our little friend!
Lisa and I smiled at each as it now all made sense!
Just like our lives together over the past 35 years, the best things in life are worth fighting for!
What are you fighting for?
How much effort are you putting in?
Maybe there is a lesson to be learned from a small hummingbird in Northern Maine after all!
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