Territorial Hummingbird

We have a large and lovely window in our living/dining room that looks out onto our backyard. Outside, right smack in the middle, we have hung a hummingbird feeder. After the tiny winged creatures finally realized the feeder was there, they have made good use of it and we enjoy watching the different types of little birds flit around and drink their fill of the sweet, red liquid. There is one little bird, however (I think it's a territorial male) who has claimed the entire feeder as his own. (Never mind the fact that there is space for four birds at a time; we've only ever seen two birds on the feeder together and frankly, I don't think they like each other very much.) He waits in the dogwood tree and just as soon as another of his kind makes an appearance at his feeder, he zooms out of the tree as fast as his tiny wings can carry him, ruby throat a-blazing, and chases the intruder away. Sometimes he'll come back for a quick sip before heading back to his perch in the dogwood, but mostly he just returns to his tree and settles in to wait and watch. It's really quite funny. I know where to look in that tree because Sir Ruby-Throated Hummingbird the Brave and Territorial sits in the same place every time; I've followed his progress to and from the dogwood multiple times and the route never varies. SM suggested I set up the video camera to catch it on tape, but those little suckers are so darn fast that I'm not sure I'd really be able to catch anything so that anyone looking would be able to tell what was happening! Anyway - I had to write this down before I forgot about it. I spent almost 30 minutes watching him today as I stood by the couch folding clean laundry, HGTV on in the background, kids snoozing quietly in their rooms. I can't wait for folks to be at our house next weekend for Hubby's birthday! Maybe one or two of them will get to witness this strange bird-dance for themselves! Hope you enjoyed this rare, Saturday evening post! TTFN JMS