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Northwestern Gardening

Goldfinch at the hummingbird feeder.

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

11 years ago

What's that all about? Watched him/her for about 10 minutes this morning flitting back and forth between the feeder and nearby perches. Beak too short and too wide to fit into the nectar slots so can only assume there might have been some insect activity that was causing the interest. Surprised the very territorial hummers didn't run him off but they are most active later in the day.

Any one else have unusual visitors to hummingbird feeders?

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Comments (2)

aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
11 years ago
That would have been so fun to watch, this happened at one of our feeders a couple years back. If my memory serves me right it was a chickadee. All I can think of is that by bumping the tube a drop of nectar was released or perhaps they were dining on an ant or two :).
Annette
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) thanked aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
Pyewacket
11 years ago
I know someone who tells me that swallows have been feeding at her hummingbird feeder - in numbers that have actually driven the actual hummingbirds off!

The only thing I could think to suggest was to put out a shallow dish with water - perhaps they are actually in need of water rather than the sugar in the solution. I thought swallows were solely insectivores - but maybe not?
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