Dave Barker has a similar setup on his patio that surrounds much of his house. The hummers weren't swarming the day I was there, but he told stories that sound much like what you've described, Nancy. Still there were a lot of them. Dave said it took him and Tracy a couple of years to train the hummers to not fight with each other because they are very territorial little beasties. They started out with the feeders spread very far apart for different hummer families to establish themselves at...then very gradually moved them closer and closer until they were much like the ones in your pictures. After so many generations of hummers feeding there, they now rarely fight over them and many different species congregate peacefully. It's all so fascinating and I would LOVE to be able to sit and observe such behavior on a daily basis!


Once, while at the Desert Museum in Tucson...I was in their Hummingbird aviary and one particularly people-friendly little momma landed right on my arm. It was astonishing to see her sitting there and yet not feel a thing because she was virtually weightless. One of my favorite "nature-memories!"