Neighborhood bully

[fotofashion]

Your hummer is most likely a female. They have a rounded tail whereas the male's tail is forked.
Beverly A.

[smweaver]

Thank you, Beverly. "She" seems to be a group. What I thought was one bird has turned out to be at least a few, all of whom take turns chasing each other away. So far I think I've only seen one male (although I'll have to take a closer look at the tail feathers to see if they're forked), and he appears to have been banished to a butterfly bush on the opposite side of the yard (so far I haven't seen him go near the feeder).

[fotofashion]

I have often thought it strange that, although it would be understandable that males would fight with males and females with females, hummingbirds don't discriminate that way. I guess it is because after mating the two sexes live entirely apart.
I haven't been able to see clearly if any males have come to my feeder this year. In years past they have. I love to see them perch and preen their feathers.
Beverly A.

[smweaver]

Yesterday the male came to feed, and even though the two females immediately approached from different directions, he didn't back away. All three of them hovered about a foot from the feeder, watching each other. It reminded me of one of those old Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns, where the gunslingers hold their positions at different ends of the street and attempt to stare each other down before they open fire. It seems they (the birds, not Clint and company) have come to some sort of uneasy truce. As long as one bird doesn't linger at the feeder for an excessively long time (whatever that may be in hummingbird etiquette) they appear to (somewhat grudgingly) tolerate each other. It's actually kind of funny. I can sit on the deck less than ten feet from them and as long as I don't make sudden moves, they ignore me and concentrate on one another.

[Kevin_PR]

Originally Posted by Jayfar

Your bully hummingbird might one day meet its match in the form of a vicious praying mantis.

I had posted the following on another forum a while back.

Praying Mantis Makes Meal of a Hummingbird | Bird Watcher's Digest

Also, youtube has numerous mantis versus hummingbird videos:

praying mantis hummingbird - YouTube

But still I love mantises. There was one a few years ago at my job who was hanging out in one spot on a seldom-used loading dock door. He stayed within inches of the same spot for many days. I went on vacation and came back and he was still there. Another time I found one indoors in the hallway, so I scooped him up on a sheet of paper and took him out to a grassy area across the parking lot.

That is absolutely horrible!!! I always find it disturbing to see an arthropod feed on a vertebrae centipede vs mouse, spider vs bird, and in this case Mantis vs hummingbird. I hope it was a quick death. I think the way they kill and ingest must be extremely terrifying an painful to their prey.