Don’t be fooled by the title of this post. It isn’t about sex, but it is about the facts of life.
My friend Ken lives way out in the sticks. I’m not sure if I could ever deal with rural living myself, but Ken absolutely loves it. And I have to say that even though I’m a city girl, I love visiting him out there. I’ve spent many a pleasant hour lazing about on his big front porch or wandering the endless meadows around his property, reveling in the sights and sounds and smells of the country.
Not to mention the life lessons, which sometimes show up in the most unexpected ways.
The birds…
Late last summer Ken put up a hummingbird feeder for the first time, hanging it on a hook just off his porch so we could sit back and enjoy the spectacle of ruby-throated hummers. It wasn’t long before the first tiny little jewels began buzzing around, and they were amazing to watch. Unbelievably small they were, and yet each one so perfect…
But we noticed something that we found a bit disturbing. Although the hummingbird feeder had six separate feeding stations, it seemed that all of the tiny birds were fighting over one station. One hummingbird would show up and start to feed, and almost immediately another one would come zooming in out of nowhere to chase the first one away and take over the station. And then a third bird would approach and chase the second one away, or the first bird would come back, seemingly bent on revenge…and on and on.
We didn’t understand it. There were five other perfectly good feeding holes, but that didn’t seem to matter. The birds were spending more time and energy fighting than they were feeding. Hummingbirds, we learned, can be fiercely territorial!
After a couple of days of this, Ken decided that maybe the solution would be to buy a second feeder. At the very least, more than one bird could feed at a time. So we went to a local feed store – they have a lot of those out in the country – and we picked up another feeder just like the first one. Ken hung the second feeder a couple of yards from the first one, and once again we sat back to enjoy the show.
But we found to our dismay that the new feeder made no difference. The little rascals were still fighting over that one station on the first feeder.
I shook my head in amazement. Here was an entire world of abundance, with not one but two full feeders – more than enough for all of the hummingbirds in the area. But instead of taking advantage of that cornucopia, the birds were squabbling over one little hole in one feeder. It just didn’t make sense – well, not to Ken and me, anyway. To the birds, I’m sure it made perfect sense.
The truth is that hummingbirds, like most birds, are territorial. They may be adorable to us, but they take their little lives very seriously. They get especially territorial about their feeding areas in the late summer, when their prime directive is to fatten themselves up for their long trip south for the winter. Ruby-throated hummingbirds are known to fly nonstop across the Gulf of Mexico – a distance of least 500 miles. So they need all the energy they can get. But it's not just a late-summer thing; no matter when or where you put up a feeder, once the hummingbirds start showing up they'll fight over it in the beginning. Ken and I weren't prepared for that.
I was worried that because of the feeder fights, some of them might not be getting enough. As I did more research on hummingbirds, I learned that nectar in those feeders (or from flowers) isn’t their only source of sustenance; they also eat bugs for protein. Nectar, however, is a vital pick-me-up – kind of like a hummingbird Starbucks – providing them with the necessary energy to go about their busy lives.
To me it seemed absurd that there was so much fighting going on when there was obviously so much food available (I know, I know, "Stop anthropomorphizing, Kalea!"). By now, though, Ken and I had figured out that buying yet another hummingbird feeder wasn’t going to make things any better. So we decided to just sit back and let nature take its course. What else could we do?
And then, after a few more days, we noticed that things were calming down a bit. At one point – I can’t say exactly when, but I honestly think it was some time on the seventh day (hmm) – we realized that the birds had discovered there were other stations in that first feeder. Before long, we noticed that two, three, four or more hummingbirds were feeding at a time. They were still ignoring the second feeder, but at least there wasn’t nearly so much fighting. Oh, there would still be the occasional dive-bombing from nowhere, the frantic midair pursuit, almost too quick for our eyes to see…but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been at the beginning.
Then there came the day when one bird discovered the second feeder. Although there were a couple of minor scuffles, it wasn’t long at all before the little jewels were busily and happily drawing from all of the stations in both feeders. After that, Ken and I found ourselves refilling both feeders far more frequently – a task we were only too glad to perform, for in return we got to watch the most astonishing, beautifully choreographed dance of iridescent light and color.
And the hummingbirds, now in full preparation mode for their long journey across the waters, were finally taking full advantage of the abundance that had, in fact, been around them all along. There truly was enough for all.
It is frequently difficult for us with our limited human perspective to see the abundance all around us, even as it was difficult for the hummingbirds to see it when they were so blinded by their own territorial imperative. Eventually they "got" it, but, from my perspective as an observer, it seemed that they were wasting an enormous amount of time and energy fighting over the bounty that had been provided for them – when in truth there was no need to fight. Watching this experience unfold gifted me with a powerful and eloquent reminder that abundance – absolute abundance – is everywhere in the Universe... and there truly is enough for all.
Yours in Absolute Abundance, utter gratitude and boundless joy,
Kalea Makana
"The Abundance Chick"
*****
Here are some fun facts about hummingbirds.
Click here to go to Part 2 of "Lessons from the birds and the bees"
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