by Brenda S Brown

Created on: October 01, 2009   Last Updated: October 02, 2009

The ferocious battle commenced in my yard numerous weeks ago, in fact, this is the seventh anniversary of the enjoyable event, but the reassuring news is that in late autumn when cooler weather returns to this area, and the skirmish is concluded, there will be no remaining casualties, no bodies to bury, no tombstones to purchase. The combative behavior is only part of the interesting antics displayed by miniature visitors that invite themselves to inhabit parts of Milledgeville and Baldwin County, Georgia during the hot summer months.

As you have probably guessed, I am talking about the aggressive hummingbirds that occupy our yard every year and during their brief visitation, perform the most amazing acrobatic performance imaginable. Daily my husband and I observe dive-bombing, sneak attacks and unbelievable upside down and backward flying maneuvers.

Then after they first appear, for nearly a month, they seclude themselves in the deep woods for the annual birthing and caring for the young routine. Apparently, the nest they build is slightly larger than a walnut, and they have one to two off springs each year.

When they emerge from the birthing ritual, they seem to be even more animated; their language includes chirps, warbles and squeaks, and the zooming noises made with their wings is heard from yards away. If you are not fortunate enough to already have hummingbirds, perhaps you might want to invest in a feeder and sit back like us, and observe their display of astonishing flying skills. Some literature suggests that you can train them to feed from your hand but we have not tried that approach yet.

Our yearly guests display wondrous colors, therefore we have named several of them accordingly; Emeril, Peacock, and Scarlett, but when they zoom-by the porch at a speed approaching thirty miles an hour it is often difficult to identify them. One returning visitor is named Woody because his coloring closely resembles a woodpecker, and poor Brownie is just as plain as the others are attractive, but his cranky disposition evens the score.

Besides flying upside down and backwards, they seem to enjoy chasing each other in games of catch me if you can. For such tiny creatures, they sure are brave, they chase bumblebees from flowers and dive-bomb larger birds just for fun; they might be small but they are mighty.

There is a ferocious battle occurring in my yard every day and we are enjoying it immensely.

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