This summer I think we have just two hummingbirds visiting our feeders -- a
male and a female. We have three feeders up. One is in the hanging flower
pots outside our back porch. There is another, larger feeder in the
backyard. This has been the feeder most used in previous years. Some years
we have had more hummingbirds and they were squabbling over the feeder out
back, so a few years ago I added one in the front of the house near our
front door. It is right below the second story window for my study where I
do my compute work.

This year the male hummer returned first and quickly adopted the backyard
feeder as the one he preferred. The female showed up a few days later and,
while she found the back feeder, seemed to prefer the feeder out front.
After the migration they emptied both feeders pretty quickly.

Next I was surprised that the front feeder was being emptied quite quickly.
Not as fast as right after migration, but it was dropping steadily. When it
was empty I switched the feeders, so they would take the older nectar
first. The front feeder is still being used more now, but it is not
dropping as fast. I see both hummingbirds regularly and they visit all the
feeders, but seem to be taking more nectar from out front.

Then yesterday the female visited the window outside my study as I was
doing some computer tasks. Our house is in a small woodlot and is
surrounded by trees. We have lots and lots of spider webs both in the woods
and on the house. The hummer was very methodical. She visited my window
several times over several hours, carefully checking every spider web for
insects. I noticed that she even checked one web three different times and
got something it on the third visit.

This got me to wondering if, during this part of the summer, the hummers
are feeding more on insects than relying on nectar. And I am wondering how
big a role spiders play in helping to catch the insects the hummers eat.
Hummingbirds and spiders. Sounds like a good research project to me.

As I write this, the female hummingbird was back and checked "her"
spiderweb again.
​Ken Ostermiller
Westfield Center

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