Here is a kind of "off the wall" question.

For the last 2 years I have observed the hummingbirds that come to the 2 feeders hanging off of my back deck. The feeders are at opposite corners and have 2 distinctive camps of users. Sitting in my usual chair there is a "left" and a "right"
camp. Both of these camps exhibit both a similar behavior and a different behavior.

The main similarity is that they both guard their feeder from encroachment by the other camp. If a bird from the right goes to feed from the left it is chased away and likewise if a bird from the left goes to feed from the right it is chased away. I get the impression that more energy is spent on this constant dog fight like flight than on any other activities. More times than you think two birds will whiz by my head in a basketball screening like maneuver, the leading bird probably hoping his close fly-by will cause his chaser to run into me. You can hear their wings rubbing on the other birds wings at times making a sound something like sticking a piece of paper into a rotating fan blade.

The main difference is that I have to fill the right feeder twice and some days three times as often as the left. The right camp feeds often with what seems to be a lack of conservation. The left camp feeds in a more judicious fashion and more often than the right they certainly are chasing away, more often then being chased away, any non members from the feeder. There does appear to me to be more in the right camp than in the left.

Here is the question, actually questions:(right camp, left camp)

Who are the democrats? Who are the republicans?

Who are the conservatives? Who are the liberals?

I know these are just birds, but I have tried to match these terms/ideas up with the camps for over a year and just get confused. I like the drink and be merry nature of the right camp, but get tired of refilling their feeder. I admire the left for what appears to be their conservative nature but at the same time I get a little miffed when the other feeder is empty, theirs is close to full and they are chasing away other birds.

I have considered hanging a third feeder in the middle to see what difference it would make. I may yet.

:Y: Cultivate peace, not war.

thisplanet, I know next to nothing about hummingbirds, but your back yard sounds like a very entertaining place to be! I'd be very interested in your hanging the third feeder (for the Independents?), and hope you'll keep us posted as to the wheeling or dealing or triangulating or or buzz-bombing or...?

I also wonder if the right camp is suffering from some sort of deprivation psychology? So, what would happen if you hung the third feeder next to the right one? Would they then experience abundance, and relax a little more and eat less?

(I wonder if I should hang more "feeders" around my place, so I'll eat less!) :rolleyes:

I feel these questions will keep me up at night, so you'll have to report back to us!

Also, should you get a helmet?
:chicken: :chicken: :chicken:

:P

Whybaby - I think I will get a 3rd feeder when I get back from my trip north this weekend. Then I will have to take some time to understand who is feeding there - you know they all look the same.

BUT... although you responded I was hoping for some answers - A kind of survey like question that I really wanted a half serious reply to (dumb question I guess).

Maybe I shouldn't be silly and expect to be taken seriously.

I think I'm spending too much time on this stuff. The guy I used to be seems to have disappeared about 2 weeks ago. Yeh - I think I need to go and watch the hummingbirds a little more. :dripple: