There's a Hummingbird nest in the Cherry tree in my backyard. The other day I was surprised to see a new baby so late in the season. I want to show you a few photos, starting with the adult pair, then the baby, and finally a bee that decided to get involved in their lives.
First of all, here's the adult female - this is an Anna's Hummingbird.
Next, here's the male at one of our feeders. Notice the bright purple colour feathers around his neck and face. This is how you identify the male.
The following photo shows the baby. I guess I should say fledgling since it has learned to fly now. The baby does not have bright colours and I assume this is a female.
Finally, I want to introduce the "villain" in our story: a BIG SCARY BEE... Now I understand that bees are our friends and they are vital for pollinating our plants. I'm just fine with bees, and they don't normally bother me, and I'd never kill one, but imagine how huge the bee looks to a hummingbird. It's probably 10% the size of the hummingbird and I'll bet it's sting might kill one.
The bees and wasps love the hummingbird feeder which basically contains sugar and water. Watch what happens when a bee comes along while the baby is feeding... this was made from a dozen sequential shots. The poor baby is terrified and takes off briefly when the bee comes by. Look closely and you can see the bee in three frames, after which the bird settles down and begins to feed again.
You guys know how much I love birds, right? In fact, this post is for @melinda010100's #FeatheredFriday challenge which I try to enter just about every week.
I wish I could tell you this was the end of the story but it isn't. I don't have photos of this, but that bee came back over and over and the hummingbird was not getting enough food. I was afraid the bird might get stung and so at a certain point I had to step in to save her.
Like I said, I would never kill a poor little bee, but to save the bird? Hell yeah, I'd light that bee up good and proper with my model M26 Taser. Bet your ass I would!
Don't taze me bro...
The bee was fine about an hour later but it did seem a little confused. So that's my story and I'm sticking to it! Have a great day my friends, and don't forget to post your bird photos.
What a great bird post! So much drama! I never thought about it, but it makes sense that the bees would be interested in the hummingbird feeder. The bird shots are amazing. I have given up on getting good shots of hummingbirds. They move faster than I can think.
Thank you! The actual truth here is that the bees don't really bother the birds much but the wasps do... I didn't have any photos of that however. The bee I captured in those photos just flew by and scared the bird, but the wasps will chase them away. And also, the poor bee I pretended to zap was already dead and I had no dead wasps to play with. :-)
the story and photos are amazing!!!
Happy you liked it, @nikosnitza!
Such a lovely story! And great photos, my friend!
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Much appreciated, @axeman! Thank you :)
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Amazing photos! Love those little guys, too bad I don't have them here 🙂 and cool story too!
Thanks a lot, I appreciate the comment! :-)
I love the anima toon of the Hbird i wish we had them here though
Thank you! I'm really not familiar with the range of hummingbirds, but it does seem from the comments that lots of people don't see them. That's a shame.
Great photos Keith. I think my hummers went South before Hurricane Dorian walloped PEI.
Glad the bee came around. 😊
Thank you! How badly did you get hit by Dorian?
Welcome Keith! Power was out for 72 hrs and a tree came down in the yard, across the driveway. I did a post on it. I don’t like to put my link here but thought you might like to read about Dorian at my end of the Island.
https://steemit.com/sublimesunday/@redheadpei/farewell-dorian-a1c967e0b2f8c
Yes, thanks, I'm heading there right now!
Fantastic photos! I have had 2nd hatch late season baby hummers coming to my feeder, too. And plenty of bee visitors, but I figure they all have to learn to get along! When the hornets get too bad I have been know to go out at night and take the feeders down for a few days.
So I guess the late-season hatching must be fairly common. I have definitely seen this with the blue herons. We keep the feeders up year-round because these birds don't migrate, or at least the ones in our yard don't.
Hahahaha... you the villain! 😅
You have always caught wonderful bird shots... Love these hummingbirds - the male looks more petite actually, and that colour on the neck looks bejewelled... Fight / flight of the bumblebee... - lol....
Thank you, @ackhoo! The bees are fairly easy to live with... it's these guys who are the problem. I believe this is called a Bald-faced Hornet. This is what scares the hummingbirds and will chase them away from the feeder.
Yikes! These guys scare me too!!!
Hornets, wasps...we have these too - not cute and furry like bees, but they look like they have armour like a transformer character! And some here are the totally black darth vader-ish characters!!
I've never seen one that is all black, that would be a little Vaderish...
Thank you, @pixresteemer!