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Hummingbirds I've noticed are very curious about other creatures. To a fault even, mantises will sometimes exploit this to catch hummingbirds (they are much more powerful than you might expect). I don't know if this is universal across hummingbird species/groups, but I'm able get very close to them by just patiently standing still by the feeder for 10 or 15 minutes, and they'll start investigating me.


I have noticed this about hummingbirds as well. We have a feeder on our deck and if you are out there when they are feeding expect to receive an inspection. I like to think the thought in their brain is “are you a flower?”

I’ve also had a hummingbird come within a few centimeters of landing on my hand while mounting biking (stopped, of course). I credit my new-at-the-time bright red gloves for that interaction.


Most hummingbirds are opportunistic eaters, and also eat insects.

Such as knats and such, which love humans.

So they may be looking for a meal, too.


Growing up my great grandmother kept about 3 dozen hummingbird feeders near her back porch at her farm so she could watch the hummingbirds as they fed. She easily went through 4 gallons of sugar water per day. I was told as a kid that she had been documented as having altered the migration paths of several flocks of hummingbirds because she had been maintaining her feeders for over 30 years at the time of her death and they would remember where her farm was.

They would flit past your head when you went out to refill them, but they seldom went more than a few feet away. You could stand under under the feeders and after a few minutes, if you were calm enough, they would start be willing to land on you and rest, or lick off any syrup you had gotten on your hands.


My sister had one land on her finger and point with its head to which flowers it wanted her to move her hand to. This was without a feeder, but in an area with lots of people around (at a winery).


We used to have one that would hover in front of our kitchen window when the feeder (at the other end of the house) was empty.


I can go outside holding a feeder and as long as I stand still, after about a minute the hummers will feed while I'm holding the thing. Brave little birds.


Nasty little birds. We put out a feeder, and they battle each other for it, even when there's plenty for all. It's a good thing they don't decide to gang up on humans; they could do a lot of damage while we're still looking at where they were a hundred wingbeats ago.


I saw a hummingbird attack a squirrel once. Nasty indeed. I suspect the squirrel was getting a little too close to its nest.


Squirrels are cute, but they'll happily steal the eggs or hatchlings out of the nest if given the chance.


Different species, perhaps different groups within a species, behave differently. I've heard of this but never seen it.




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