Hummer Wars

A couple of days after we added a second hummingbird feeder to our front porch, we received a new visitor. His name is Black-Headed Meany, aka Redneck, or just plain Black Meany for short! He is a Ruby Throated Hummingbird. He is also a bully. He guards the feeders and beats up anyone else who tries to get a drink. It is fun to watch, but I feel sorry for the hungry little guys who can't get a drink. We have seen him chase away as many as three other birds at the same time and he screams at them and pecks them. I noticed this morning that some of his chest feathers seemed to be partially ripped out. I am wondering if someone gave him a little taste of his own medicine?!?!

Mike, who is the one who named him Black Meany, came up with a humorous solution. He wants to take a badminton racket and line it with a piece of thick Styrofoam. When Black Meany flies into it, his beak will get stuck, sort of like a birdie time out, and he will learn not to pick on other hummingbirds! While the thought of Black Meany sticking out of a badminton racket is pretty funny, I think we need to come up with a better solution than that! For anyone reading this, who doesn't know Mike, he would never harm a hummingbird, so if you hear him say he wants to borrow Steven's slingshot, just ignore it!

I'm going to add a third feeder in the back of the house, so hopefully, the other birds will eat there or Black Meany will move there to guard that one. I was planning to add another one in the back, anyway. Repeat after me, "I'm not obsessed, I'm not obsessed..."!!!