Smaller than a petunia

The hummingbird wars have commenced.

Last year was a quiet year. Not much warfare, a few skirmishes. Last year I think we had one local rufous hummingbird ruling and the others moved on. Last year I didn't have a hummingbird feeder, or a hummingbird garden, although I had a few hummingbird-friendly plants--butterfly bushes, an ailing honeysuckle, a small patch of monarda, a few penstemon.

It seems I must have outdone myself in providing hummingbird fodder because we have at least four. They're hard to count when they're chasing each other back and forth over the house and into the blackberries at 60 mph. One has claimed the feeder, and guards it from within the butterfly bushes which haven't come into bloom yet (although I saw a few bits of darker purple that may be flowers opening.) Another I call the petunia hummer, and it's cute to watch that one feed because the petunia blossoms are much larger than the bird. The poor thing has a very small territory, the four hanging baskets by the stairs, and is close enough to the butterfly bushes to annoy the feeder hummer. S/he makes forays into the monarda as well, where fights occur with the rock garden hummer who also wants the monarda. Rock garden hummer? Yep. Yet another has claimed the rock garden where all the penstemon are. And then we have raider hummer, who apparently feeds from the fuschia baskets in front and then zooms back into various territories to nip from the others. As the salvia and new honeysuckle by the garden bench grows and the wildflower garden blooms up with hummingbird attractive species (right now I all have a few cosmos, the more percocious bachelor buttons and lots of gypsophila (aka baby's breath)) I imagine that will become highly disputed territory.

So the morning has been filled with the outraged squeaks and mechanical brrts of hummingbirds chasing each other and trying to steal from one another. A couple of them have flown up to see if I too plan to try to claim some territory. If I did, I'd claim the roses. I'm sure they'd laugh at me. Go ahead, stupid human, claim the roses.

Don't mind if I do.