While  assigned to Panama  I met one of the most intelligent and beautiful creatures God has placed on this earth and they taught me a lot––and not just about hummingbirds. Our house was up on "stilts", so the first floor was really elevated and since it was built before air conditioning, for cross ventilation, the entire floor was just a series of huge eight foot tall windows

The house sat right on the edge of the jungle and I saw many creatures I’d only seen in zoos, but one attracted my attention. I’d noticed there appeared to be quite a few hummingbirds, so I thought I do a good deed and obtain some enjoyment at the same time.  So I bought a hummingbird feeder, and hung it on a wire from the third floor so that it dangled right in front of one of the windows in my living room.

Well, like the movie said: "build it and they will come" and they did indeed come——in droves. To see 30––40 humming birds just three feet in front of your face was an experience I’ll never forget------but like any paradise, I also encountered a devil——small and beautiful, but a mean sucker for all of that.

When I put up the feeder——dozens of humming birds would come, but this one bird, I called him Old Greedy, would come over and sit on the feeding ring and chase all the other's away. Old Greedy and I would come to know each other very, very well.

Old Greedy claimed that feeder; he would perch on the feeder ring at the bottom and chase away any other bird that tried to take "his" food. It was His and his alone. But he hadn't figured with me, and to be frank, I badly underestimated him--and he would teach me a lot, about hummingbirds and humility.  He'd perch on the feeder ring and I'd get up and bang on the window and that would scare him off----for a couple of days. Then he figured out I couldn't do anything from inside, so he'd just sit there, chase the others away---and give me the Hummingbird version of the Italian salute----The Wing?

I swear I could see him smile.  I'd been in the Army for 25 years then and I knew that: This meant War!  I wanted to see dozens of beautiful birds not just one greedy bird--sneering at me. So, I lowered the feeder and I cut off the feeding ring. Clever me. Of course this meant the birds would have to eat "on the wing" so to speak, but it would deprive Old Greedy of his perch. If he couldn’t perch then he couldn’t chase the others away. Right?

Alas, I’d underestimated his intelligence and he figured that one out pretty quickly. He'd come and hang on to the support wire at the top of the feeder and make his attacks from there——giving The Wing to me again. Well, no bird, no matter how quick or how pretty was going to outsmart me, so, experienced combat veteran that I am, I vowed that I would show him who was smarter.

Once again, I lowered the feeder to the ground and then I covered the support wire with Vaseline! Victory! At last, Man had once again, showed his superiority by winning another battle in the age old Struggle Between Man and Beast. I chortled gleefully the first time he landed on the Vaseline---you could almost hear the cursing as he flew away.

Away----but, alas, not gone.

He found a perch in a tree---about 20 yards from the feeder and attacked when the other birds came to feed. So much for who was smarter. I was being outsmarted by a creature the size of my thumb? I began to think that my ego had taken a mortal blow.  My next move was to take the offensive. In the many Army schools I’d attended over the years, it had been pounded into my head that: "The best defense is a good offense." So when I saw him leave the tree and fly to the feeder, I would get out of my chair, sneak down stairs----get the hose, and hit him with a stream of water. He didn't like that at all.

Again I thought I’d won, only to be defeated once again. Old Greedy was so smart, he'd watch through the window and when he saw me get up from the chair, he'd fly back to the tree. When I returned to the chair, back he’d fly to the feeder and renew his reign of terror. Giving me The Wing-------again. I couldn’t get over it. I, a graduate of the Army’s Command and Staff College and the Army War College was being outsmarted, not once, not twice, but three times----by a an over-sized mosquito!

Finally, finally, at the end of my wits, all that expensive tax payer supported education paid off. I came up with a simple and effective solution. I put up a second feeder and since he couldn't cover both of them, he gave up.

Another victory for the US Army. Heaven knows what would have happened if I wasn't a graduate of the Army War College. He was a most worthy opponent.   I am certain if Hummingbirds had Branches.............he’d be Armor. <G>

Now I could enjoy the fruits of victory and enjoy I did as I watched dozens of hummingbirds feeding only three feet in front of my face. I counted----up to 35 hummingbirds feeding at one time. What a sight. I'd sit, read and watch them for hours. We became friends.  I never ceased to be amazed and impressed with their intelligence and intelligence is the correct description. They were not only smart––they came to know me––as an individual. Really. Just one example; when the feeders became empty several birds would fly up to the window and just hover there----looking in to let me know the feeder was empty and time for me to get to work to correct the situation. And there they’d hove until I got up and went down to refill the feeder.

Refilling the feeder was one of the most beautiful experiences I’ve had. Really a gift. I would lower the feeders down to the ground for refilling and while I was out refilling them, the hummingbirds would be all around me.

Literally--30––40 birds ALL around me, no fear, hovering only inches away. When I moved my head or arms, they didn't fly off---they just moved with the arms, head, etc. Anyone seeing me would think I was physically covered with these tiny and beautiful creatures.

Changing the feeders with all those thumb size creatures hovering all around me——was like being inside a Hummingbird Rainbow---an indescribable experience.  There they were, some hovering a foot away, many more around my arms and face, like mosquitoes, me talking to them and thinking they could understand me. A conceit perhaps, but I enjoyed it.

These small, creatures, had, on their own, figured out that I fed them, they figured out how to communicate with me and they knew they had nothing to fear from me.  That shows more intelligence that some–too many—people I’ve met.  I always told my wife---the hummingbirds would be what I would miss most about Panama---and I miss them still.

© Nicholas A. Andreacchio