I have bought 7 feeders, of which 4 have been these. The hummingbirds are so aggressively territorial that one bird (usually a female) will dominate one feeder. They will try to dominate more than one if they can. They usually find a perch in clear view of their 'treasure'. When a rival approaches there is a flurry of wings and agitated twittering as the newcomer is chased away. To counter this, I have learned to position each one just out of sight of the others. I can watch them, but they cannot see each other. It seems to work.

I have tried other feeders. However my logic for selecting this feeder is as follows. There is a definite need to clean the feeder and to replace nectar each week - even if it is not finished. It is therefore worthwhile to have more smaller feeders rather than one or two larger ones which waste the nectar. At least that works well for my birds. Hence the reason for having 4 of these 8 oz size feeders. The fact that these feeders are plastic rather than glass makes for a safer re-hanging each week. I have all the grace of an olympic gymnast when on stepladders - unfortunately it is not intentional. I could trip over a painted line in the street. So if you have any doubts about ever dropping the feeder, I recommend the plastic variety. The hummers really do no seem to have preference for the material.

On preferences of hummingbirds - one other point. I find the Instant Nectar product from Perky Pets to be the most popular with our birds - BUT - it has to be made with filtered water. Otherwise they really do not visit the feeders so often. The highly chlorinated water of Houston does seem to be a turn off for them.

Enjoy your birds

6 of 7 found the following review helpful:

The Hummers Love This Feeder!  Jul 15, 2000
By Patricia R. Dumond "pat_of_northern_california"
I have several hummingbird feeders and this is a favorite among our local hummingbird population. I like it because it is easy to clean, using a bottle brush, although my brush doesn't quite fit to the end which is a problem. I've had it for over a year and it is still in fine shape. Definately a bargain!

1 of 1 found the following review helpful:

Got nectar ?  Sep 28, 2000
By SGN "sgn"
Hours of pleasure. I bought four of these last week. I already had two of another make. They were more expensive and much bigger. The problem is that our hummies are so territorial that they chase off all others. The result is that the level drops slowly and the mixture tends to deteriorate. I looked for more of the smaller feeders and decided to try these. The smaller size means that we waste less nectar and have more feeders - and hence more hummies - but read on for our observations on getting more birds. I did not want glass which I thought too vulnerable to breaking ( as my wife would tell you, I do tend to rival Olympic gymnasts when I reach around on the step-ladders, sadly, it is inadvertent. I am to grace and balance what Ghengis Khan was to world peace). Anyway no problem about the plastic ones, and the hummies love them. Sadly they have to keep flying as there is no perch for them. That probably means that they need to visit the feeders more often. When I discovered the secret of placing them underneath an eave or ledge and out of view of each of the other feeders, the result (for the Instant Nectar/filtered water filled feeders) was excellent. We now have a colony of humminbirds. They are noisy, belligerent - and marvellous to have around. This is an excellent, value-for-money feeder.