If you have hummingbird feeders in your yard then you have undoubtedly witnessed the very aggressive nature of the hummingbirds at your feeders. There is often a bully that runs all the other birds away in an effort to try and protect "their" feeder. Why is this? What can be done about this issue?
It is important to realize that hummingbirds are very territorial in nature. The males especially will go to great lengths to defend their food source. This behavior cannot be changed in the hummingbird and it is a survival trait that these birds have.
As a way of combating the aggressive nature of the hummingbirds, it will help if you place multiple hummingbird feeders around your yard that are out of site of each other. This should solve the problem of the bully because they will be unable to defend every feeder at the same time and this will allow the other birds to feed as well.
Also, the use of plants is a great way to entice the hummingbirds. By having various plants in your yard that are known to attract hummingbirds you are offering the birds a natural and alternative food souce to the birds rather then just attracting the birds through the use of your feeders. Some of the birds will feed on the plants in your yard while others are feeding at the feeders and this will likely increase the number of hummingbirds that visit your yard.
Don’t let the aggressive nature of the hummingbird discourage you from trying to entice these bids into your yard. While you cannot change this character trait of the hummingbird, there are things that you can do to combat the problem. It is my hope that this post will offer you some advice as to solve this issue. Please let me know if you have any suggestions of your own as to how you have successfully addressed this issue.