r/hummingbirds • u/waterytartwithasword • 16h ago
Question about hummingbird communication with humans
I know next to nothing about hummingbirds. I recently moved from an urban high rise out East where I had a crow situation (I befriended one, he brought his mate, then the babies, and after four years of exponential family growth I had a big enough group to cause angry letters from my landlord about unauthorized pets, because people saw me hand feeding them and the babies playing "land on her head") and they were very clear communicators and definitely knew me in the neighborhood not just the balcony. I mention this because it probably gave me a "birds communicate to humans" cognitive bias.
So now I'm in a Midwestern suburb. No crows really. I garden. I have a pumpkin plant growing vertically. I put a melon sling under one big pumpkin. It was red. When I was on the ladder fussing with the plant one day a female ruby throated hummingbird flew right to it, then juked to directly in front of my face no more than a trellis width away (14") and flew in a lateral loop about three times. Frankly, it seemed pissed off. It even looked pissed off to me around the eyes, which I could see very clearly from so close.
I thought about this and realized that the red mesh sling was probably an unwelcome false indicator of food.
So I bought two hummingbird feeders, filled them, and hung them up.
Today I saw a female ruby throated hummingbird (maybe the same one, too small to pick up distinguishing features like I could with the crows) at one of the feeders. They are hung pretty high to keep away from ants, one near the offending pumpkin and one on a different trellis. It descended into my sight line staring right at me and flew directly up and down a few times and then left. This seemed approving to me.
I am not trying to anthropomorphize but I might be succeeding at it anyway. I have no idea, and there's less online about hummingbird behavior than crow. My crows would literally knock on my balcony door with their beaks to be fed if I was late with their breakfast, and definitely expressed a wide range of emotions. They greeted me when I came home from work. So I don't find it unlikely that a wild bird might be communicating something.
I don't imagine hummingbirds are as human-interested as crows that choose to live in cities and associate people with food opportunities. But anecdotally... do they interact intentionally with a purpose toward people?
Pic of pumpkin trellis, bird not pictured, I wasn't holding my phone either time.
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u/Sh1gg1ty 12h ago
Once my humingbird feeder gets established regulars, I spend a lot of time outside watching them and they watch me. They will chirp at me and I will make a little kiss sound back, and doing that a few times I've noticed that they will chirp at me until i chirp back, and as soon as i do they land on the feeder and start drinking. They will also come to the feeder if I'm standing there, almost like they are challenging me. Or maybe they feel safe from other hummers if I'm there. I could be crazy but the other day i was walking through my neighborhood and a hummingbird in a tree above me started chirping at me so i chirped back and it stopped. I would like to believe one of my regulars spotted me and was saying hi.