I have the entire backyard in various hummer plantings and a Mimosa in the front yard. I have a hummer who claims all this plus the houses and gardens surrounding me as his. Hummers are piggies :)

The only time I have seen them sharing is when the young ones are first on their own or when the boy is courting his gal.

How funny. How often do you see him? Does he spend all day around your area?

He is around all day. When not feeding he travels between two tall trees about 200 feet apart and sits atop the tree. He also travels across the street to a set of tennis courts and perches in their trees and over into the front he visits afew neighbors who have hummer plants. When he perches I know where he is because I hear him do his little chatter call. He is a busy guy and always moving around. He is here year round. A few hummers are always attempting to have a taste of his flowers but he runs them off.

Usually a few times a day he flies down and hovers in front of my face. When I do gardening chores he comes down and inspects what I am doing too.

chilidawg - Where do you live? I also live in zone 9B in Sebastian, Florida.

I've never seen a hummer here (in the 40+ years that I have around this area of Florida).

I live here

Here is a link that might be useful: I live here

I have hummingbird plants throughout the yard. I guess my "islands" would be my feeders. I have one in the front yard, one in the side yard, and one in the back yard. If I see a hummer scared off of one feeder, they usually just go to one of the others. The one in the side yard is actually a window feeder. I bring them all inside and wash and fill them at the same time, and I'll see a hummer go from one spot to the other looking for the feeders. They know where they are!! Christy

We have abpout 4 or 5 that patroll the area. I have never seen them be agressive tward each other. My mother who lives about an hour away has one that will chase the dogs if they get too close to the feeders.

I'm glad you posted this question. I have my plants scattered around in different places in the yard and I was thinking about making a single hummingbird garden instead. It didn't occur to me that the hummingbirds might not like it that way. I was just thinking that it would make it easier to VIEW the hummingbirds. I feel like when I go over to watch them in one area, they just fly off to another. I have only Ruby-throat hummingbirds here. I wonder if some species are more territorial than others.

Chilidawg - Loved your map! LOL!

I have hummer gardens on different sides of my house, but since I don't have hummers yet, I don't know how well it will actually work.

Are the males or the females more aggressive?

Well all of my beds are planted exclusively for hummers. The are in various locations around the perimeter of the house along the fence line along the side of the garage and along the property line. If one hummers sees another on the other side of the yard the chase is on. My dominating hummer guards everything within his range of vision so if you want to create islands you better put them on islands LOL!

Penny

Becky, the males are the aggressive ones. Juveniles are very tolerant of each other as I have observed. Females do not seem to chase each other. It's only the males and the attitude that all they see is theirs...kinda like humans?

I have to disagree with chilidawg. My females were very aggressive. In fact I have mostly females during the summer prior to the juveniles fledging the nest with only an occasional visiting male. This summer I had three adult females going at it chasing one another from one bed or feeder to the next. Last summer I had two juveniles that would tolerate one another for a while and then the more dominant one would have enough and run the other off.

Penny

I agree with Penny. I had females and juveniles as well. Some days I'd see half hour fights. I had one particular female that would sit right on the hook above the feeder. She would just sit there and wait for someone to come near her feeder. I'd see the fight in the backyard, and the loser would just move on to the next feeder! Christy

well, mebbe it depends on the species. I am in Northern Califexico and we have Anna's year round. Hardy ever see another species here.

Anna's will share and ar more compliant I believe than some of the others. Rufous from what I have been told are very very territorial and will chase anything. Here east of the Miss. our only breeding hummer is the Ruby-throat and though they are territorial and will chase one another, they aren't as bad as the Rufous who would probably chase his own shadow.

Penny