Feeding Hummingbirds Welcome An Unexpected Visitor

Hummingbirds are the smallest birds in existence in North America. More interestingly than that is the fact that these popularly recognized and adorable little birds actually do not appear anywhere else in the entire world. Check them out here in this video as a flock of them gather around the bird feeder. There are not many people who will say they do not enjoy watching these adorable, little personality-filled birds. The speed at which they flap their wings is entrancing to watch. They are truly fascinating little creatures. However, it appears the food has attracted someone else…

The video opens with a close up shot of a hummingbird feeder that has a clear tube and a red access perch on the bottom. Around ten or eleven hummingbirds swarm the feeder, flitting back and forth from perch to perch. Hummingbirds can be very easily attracted in the spring and summer months just by putting a blend of sugar and water into a simple feeder like the one shown in the video.
The crowd changes about three- quarters through the video. Suddenly, we see a much larger bird appear at the feeder. Right before we see this bird, many of the hummingbirds very quickly disappear. This could possibly be because they saw the larger bird approaching. This is a common phenomenon in nature that has been observed by researchers and scientists hundreds of times.

This phenomenon is most commonly seen in the ocean; when there is a swarm of smaller predators circling a food source, it will eventually attract the attention of larger predators. When this happens, a very interesting cycle of events takes place. You will see the numbers of the smaller predators decrease almost instantly right before the larger predator is detected by humans or cameras.

Scuba divers are trained to recognize when this happens. If a diver is in the water and they see suddenly that the marine life around them starts disappearing rapidly, the diver then knows to be on high alert and get to safety before a large predator comes into view.

The hummingbirds in the video seem to react in this way when they see the larger bird. It is not clear whether or not the larger bird actually poses a threat to the hummingbirds, though. The larger bird is beautiful. He sports very vibrant colors of yellow and black. He also looks to have pretty, black and white stripes on the tips of his wings. Even though this larger bird is only present at the feeder for a few seconds, he caused the other birds to disperse instantly. However, after the larger, yellow headed bird leaves the scene, things go back as expected. The beautiful little hummingbirds start to reappear. It is almost like they are a group of friends at the mall hanging out together!

This is just a really cute little scene. If you have not had a chance to enjoy watching hummingbirds in your yard, now is the time! Next time you go to the grocery store, find a small feeder and enjoy the show!