Watching hummingbirds
September 16, 2026
By Jeff Becraft
My wife has several hummingbird feeders hanging on our front porch. Four to be exact.
Two weeks ago I talked about flies on the back deck. This week is about hummingbirds on the front porch.
And lately, there have been about a dozen of them. They are flying around like crazy and having all these dog fights.
It reminds me a little bit of almost 20 years ago when Brenda and I had gone on a weekend trip away for our anniversary. We went up into the Asheville area and ran around up there. One of the places we went was Pisgah National Forest.
We had stopped at the ranger station there and they had several hummingbird feeders out. There must have been 20-30 hummingbirds flying around. It was so cool. I had never seen so many hummingbirds in one place. Now this is almost 20 years ago, and it is still a very vivid picture and a very vivid memory in our minds. It was a great trip. In fact, I would say it might have been the best weekend trip we ever had.
The dozen hummingbirds flying around now reminded me of that moment… except these guys are much more bent on having dogfights. Sometimes even more so than eating.
We will sit out there and watch… and we’ll watch these hummingbirds go after one another, zigzagging, dive-bombing one another, flaring their tails and facing off like a sword fight.
One time there were three of them hovering around one feeder. They would look at another, move a little bit closer to the feeder like they were all going to eat, and then back away again, and look at one another, and then move a little bit closer… and then back away again… all as if this kind of conversation was going on:
“Hey… is it OK to eat? Are you going to bother me if I sit on this perch right here?”
“Let’s go… coast is clear… here’s our chance.”
“Nope, nope, nope… what are you doing? Are you going to attack me if I start eating?”
“Hey… what’s that guy doing over there hovering around the porch post? Is he up to something?”
“Hey, hey, hey… what is that dude doing hanging out over in that tree? If we start eating is he going to come crash the party?”
“Let’s eat… this is our chance.”
“Hey… hey… hey… what are you doing? Stay over on your side of the feeder.”
And the beat goes on.
Brenda has pondered if all the dog fighting strengthens them for the long migration coming their way. We don’t know; we are not hummingbird scientists. We just know it is a lot more fun to watch hummingbirds than to watch flies.
I will be thinking in my mind, “You know, if they would just leave one another alone, each of them could eat peacefully. I mean, four feeders!… That could handle 16 birds at one time.”
But no such thing is going to happen. There are certain birds of this crew that are extremely territorial. In fact, there are times when I hardly ever see any of them eat because they are chasing one another and guarding what is “theirs.” I really can’t tell one from the other. Brenda seems to know the difference between them. There will be one over there in the tree and as soon as he sees some hummingbird feeding on the far-left feeder, here he comes charging in and man, the dogfight is on.
I will think, “If they didn’t spend so much time and energy in chasing one another and making sure someone else doesn’t eat, they wouldn’t need as much food to keep going.”
I wonder how it is with us. I wonder how much time and energy and emotion we spend squabbling with one another rather than taking that same time, energy, and emotion and using it to love one another and look out for the needs of others… and look to resolve hurts, miscommunications and differences.
One friend of mine that has been married almost 40 years said to me, “My wife and I have decided that we enjoy life a lot more if we simply just get along.”
Jeff Becraft is the Director of Our Place of Hope(opens in new tab) located in Columbia, South Carolina, where people find encouragement to regain meaning, purpose, and hope for their lives. Jeff has dedicated much of his life to helping shift the vision of people’s lives. If you would like Jeff to speak to your group or event, you can connect with him at [email protected](opens in new tab).
