Posted by finelinebob on May 22, 2004, at 11:22:04
In reply to Are hummingbirds territorial?, posted by Racer on May 20, 2004, at 11:53:16
> So, I've noticed that the birds come one at a time for the most part, and that there seems to be one bird that chases others away if he/she finds another there. The others come back, but seem extra vigilant...
Actually, being a scientist myself, I believe I can sagely (oops! what a typo! those "f" and "g" keys are too close together!) deduce that two different events are coinciding in spacetime continuum that is your bird feeder. First of all, there is the obviously addictive nature of the "food" in the bird feeder. Very few people are aware that bird feed companies actually mix birdie hallucinogens into the feed to attract birds to feeders and keep them there. Otherwise, birds naturally (seeing as they ARE out there in "nature") find the food they need "in the wild" and would avoid the human-scented artificial feed provided for them. If it wasn't for these substances spiking the feed, bird feed companies would be out of business.
Second of all, very few people realize that birds are gifted "naive" physicists and have since their early days (sometime around the demise of dinosaurs) understood quite well the scientific dynamics of flight, fluid mechanics and related topics (that the dinosaurs had NO GRASP WHATSOEVER of physics is the TRUE reason for their demise and not some silly meteor impact is something understood by even fewer people!) and, having such knowledge, they (being birds) have an instinctive-yet-scientific understand of the concept of WIND SHEAR. This is particularly important for hummingbirds given the extreme rapidity of their wingbeats, the ridiculously large region of microturbulences those beats cause and the relation of all this to chaos theory (hummingbirds, of all avians, are particularly gifted in mathematics as well). You've heard about how the beating of a butterfly's wings can cause tsunamis half way around the world? Well, just imagine what ONE hummingbird can do by comparison, let alone the gaggle that appear at your feeder!
So, to recap:
1) The "alpha" bird you see is really just strung out way more than the others, as levels of addiction and the criminal sorts of behavior that correspond do vary by individual, and
2) The care exhibited by the less strung-out birds is due to their concern that turbulence created by previous visitors has created conditions ripe for wind shear and, as being rapidly and violently hurled to the ground can be quite painful even when doped up, they simply wish to avoid injury (wind shear being the more dangerous source of injury in this situation than the "feed-fiend") more than they wish to get their fix.Glad to be of assistance.
flbPS. Fortunately, I happen to be one of the very very VERY few people who understand all these facts at the same time. Remarkable, isn't it?
PPS. Pardon me, but, speaking of substances, I need to go take my meds....
poster:finelinebob
thread:348862
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/2000/20040501/msgs/349630.html