Hummingbird and goldfinch

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lupinelover Grove City, OH(Zone 6a) Jul 18, 2002

A few days ago, while waiting in the front yard for the car to get backed out of the garage, about 6:30 pm, there were some goldfinches on the Scotch thistle, doing their thing (pigging out!) I was admiring them from a distance, can't get too close or they fly away, when a hummingbird left his feeding at the lavender and flew all around, and I would swear it started chasing the goldfinch.

They flew around and around the yard for more than a minute, looping, arching, round and round, not more than a couple of feet apart, until finally the goldfinch returned to its tree and the hummingbird went to feast on the monarda in the back. Is this normal? Do I have a herding hummer? Or just a bully bird? LOL

It sounds strange, but I am new to goldfinches, and I have never seen a hummer do anything about any other bird, they usually just ignore them. Huh?

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poppysue Westbrook, ME(Zone 5a) Jul 18, 2002

Hummers are very territorial. I've seen them bully each other a lot but not other birds. Maybe a gold finch is the only one small enough for him to bully - lol.

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gardenwife Newark, OH(Zone 5b) Jul 25, 2002

Or maybe he considered that thistle his private stock!

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lupinelover Grove City, OH(Zone 6a) Jul 25, 2002

More than a week later, lots of hummers, lots of goldfinches, never seen any hummer even notice the finches (or any other bird) again. So odd... Oh, lots of monarchs now, too.

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gardenwife Newark, OH(Zone 5b) Jul 26, 2002

Oh good - maybe we'll see monarchs soon then! All I've seen are tiger swallowtails, little white butterflies, and the black with the blue on its wingtips.

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lupinelover Grove City, OH(Zone 6a) Jul 26, 2002

There were 4 monarchs on my butterfly bush yesterday afternoon. Lots of others, too: painted lady, swallowtail, unknown others.

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