Giraffe On My Back Step
There's a hummingbird outside my front window who has claimed rights to the feeder that is hanging from the eaves. He sits in the tree a few feet away and chatters away all day long, zooming up to chase away any other hummingbirds that come near. He even makes irritable noises at me when I come to the window. Never mind that the feeder is 20 times his size or that he drinks only about a tablespoon of sugar water a day. This is HIS feeder.
I used to have many hummingbirds coming to the feeder. Now there is only one. It bothers me a little. I've considered throwing things at him, shooting rubber bands at him, but I suppose chasing away the birds that come to the feeder I put up is a bit contradictory.
Also, there's a giraffe on my back step.
8 Comments:
You need to hire a praying mantis for the day.
There's a great analogy in this somewhere ...
... on a more practical side, I can tell you from experience with my birds that this is pretty normal (if aggravating) territorial behavior (... my parrot has a fit if I so much as switch out one of her toys.)
I would suggest trying to move the feeder slightly and see if it makes a difference ... barring that, you could always invest in a second feeder, although that kind of smacks of concession to your feeder-hogging friend :D
paddy,
your praying mantis would cower in fear. from what i can tell, this little guy is special forces hummingbird. nobody messes with him.
pilgrim,
i thought the same thing and was going to try to write something profound, but then i decided to go take pictures of my wooden giraffe instead.
There's a house down the block which must be infested with termites, as a wild pack of acorn woodpeckers has fairly made the house their own. It's covered in various holes. I went down by that house once looking for a bear (yes this is a real reason) and the woodpeckers started getting all feisty. It was like I went into gang territory.
I do suggest you forget your plan to put out a dead fish feeder for the sea gulls. They're even worse than hummingbirds about such things.
On the bright side, I would guess that side of the house is rather spider free. Arrrr....
You might try a wooden lion for the giraffe... though in my experiences wooden giraffes are also fiercely territorial.
They just sit there, watching and waiting, craning their neck high so they can see out over the horizon. The unsuspecting passerby won't even notice the alert wooden giraffe in many cases, but will find a curious splinter if even a single misstep is taken.
They are fierce, but fortunately thrive on dew and pollen, so you won't have to fence the area off.
I have a special forces Shit-zu in my house right now...
Now that is something to be afraid of! How do you work up the courage to walk around the house? Your ankles would never be safe!
Ankles aren't safe, food isn't safe, carpet isn't safe... she has been well trained in the martial art of messes.
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