Even small birds can have bad tempers, as any backyard birder who feeds hummingbirds well knows. These tiny birds often have the biggest attitudes, and their aggression can make for an entertaining show. However, this hummingbird behavior can be a problem for other hummers at backyard feeders when one aggressive bird may chase many others away from the feeding area.
 
 Hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly backward. They are the smallest migratory birds, weighing about the same as a nickel. They are called hummingbirds for the humming sound made by their wing beats.

Are Hummingbirds Territorial?
Many birds show aggression when they feel their breeding territories or feeding areas violated by intruders. Aggressive behavior is typically strongest in late spring or early summer when the birds claim territory and defend nests. Among North American hummingbirds, the rufous hummingbird has one of the worst tempers, but all hummingbird species may show anger and aggression to varying degrees. Male hummingbirds are often more aggressive at feeders, while females attack near their nests, but this angry bird behavior can be amazing to witness with both genders.

Another reason why hummingbirds fight is when food is scarce. They can’t afford to share flowers when blossoms begin to fade; they have a long way to go after the nectar is gone. The angriest hummingbirds may be aggressive well into the fall as they defend prime feeding spots in preparation for migration.

How Hummingbirds Show Aggression
Hummingbirds may be tiny, but they have a formidable array of weapons and threats at their disposal to discourage unwelcome visitors. When a hummingbird feels threatened, it may show aggression in a variety of ways, including

Sounds
Loud, fast-paced chirping, buzzing, or chittering is one way to get an intruder’s attention and let them know an area is already claimed. When a resident hummingbird spots an intruder, it may raise the volume or quicken the pace of its songs and calls to advertise and strengthen its territorial claim.

Posture
Threat postures show off a hummingbird’s size and strength to discourage unwelcome guests. A male hummingbird may flare his gorget to show its colors more brightly, a sign of his strength and health that could dissuade intruders. Other aggressive postures include flaring the tail, raising feathers on the crown, spreading or raising the wings, and pointing the bill at the intruder like a dagger.

Dives
An angry hummingbird may first hover in front of the intruder—whether it is another hummingbird, another animal, or even a human—and then fly high above them before diving nearly straight down right at the intruder. The base of the dive is usually marked with a sharp chirp sound made from the tail feather position, and that sound acts as another warning to unwelcome guests.

Chase
Chasing away intruders is a common way hummingbirds are territorial and show aggression. A dominant hummingbird may first confront the intruder, often at a feeding area, before charging at them and following them far away from the feeder or flowerbeds. Angry chirps and other sounds often accompany these chases.

Fighting
Fighting is often the last resort for aggression and discouraging intruders, but it happens regularly. Fighting hummingbirds use their needle-like bills and sharp talons as weapons. When the birds connect with an enemy or ram them in flight, they can seriously injure, even kill, other hummingbirds that do not yield to their dominance.

Even the angriest hummingbird usually starts with the least aggressive option to defend its territory. Hummingbird sounds, threat postures, dives, and chases are the most common interactions between competing hummers.

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While often categorized as a democracy, the United States is more accurately defined as a constitutional federal republic. What does this mean? “Constitutional” refers to the fact that government in the United States is based on a Constitution which is the supreme law of the United States. The Constitution not only provides the framework for how the federal and state governments are structured, but also places significant limits on their powers. “Federal” means that there is both a national government and governments of the 50 states. A “republic” is a form of government in which the people hold power, but elect representatives to exercise that power.

When the Framers drafted the Constitution in 1787, they could not have predicted the many changes and advances that our society has undergone since the 18th Century. However, through their genius and foresight, they designed an electoral system that has the ability to adapt to modern-day America and work even better than they could have anticipated. Below are some of the many benefits of the Electoral College.

PRESERVES FEDERALISM.
The Electoral College preserves the principles of federalism that are essential to our constitutional republic. The U.S. is a large country made up of people from very different regions and cultures, and federalism is an important way of preserving the differences that make us unique while uniting us behind one common federal government. Since the country is comprised of 50 states coming together to form the federal government, it is important that the system to elect the President fairly represent them.
By allocating electoral votes by the total number of representatives in a given state, the Electoral College allows more states to have an impact on the choice of the President.

ENCOURAGES BROAD COALITION BUILDING AND MODERATION.
The Electoral College prevents presidential candidates from winning an election by focusing solely on high-population urban centers and dense media markets, forcing them to seek the support of a larger cross-section of the American electorate. This addresses the Founders’ fears of a “tyranny of the majority,” which has the potential to marginalize sizeable portions of the population, particularly in rural and more remote areas of the country.
Large cities like New York City and Los Angeles should not get to unilaterally dictate policies that affect more rural states, like North Dakota and Indiana, which have very different needs. These states may be smaller, but their values still matter—they should have a say in who becomes President. By forcing presidential candidates to address all Americans during their campaigns, not just those in large cities, the Electoral College has the added benefit of eschewing radical candidates for more moderate ones.

PROMOTES LEGITIMACY OF ELECTION OUTCOMES.
The Electoral College increases the legitimacy and certainty of elections by magnifying the margin of victory, thereby diminishing the value of contentious recounts and providing a demonstrable election outcome and a mandate to govern. Since 1900, 17 out of 29 presidential elections have been decided by 200 or more electoral votes.4
In contrast, a popular vote system with just a plurality requirement could lead to the election of presidential candidates by unprecedented, small margins. These smaller victory margins, combined with the overall decrease in popular support for a single candidate, could trigger chaotic and contested elections. Furthermore, a President elected by only 25 percent or 35 percent of the American people would not have a mandate to govern, and questions about his or her legitimacy could pose grave consequences both for the nation and for any actions he or she took as President.

A MECHANISM FOR STABLE ELECTIONS.
The Electoral College makes elections more stable, and less likely to trigger contentious recounts. Every state has different procedural rules for the administration of elections, including how recounts are triggered and conducted and how provisional ballots are counted. The 2000 presidential election saw an unprecedented vote recount in Florida that was a belabored, emotional, and costly process, even though it was limited to only one state. With a national popular vote, every additional vote a presidential candidate could obtain anywhere in the country could make the difference between winning or losing a national election. This provides a strong added incentive for recounts, even on a full national level, any time suspicious activities occur in even a single district.

DISCOURAGES VOTER FRAUD.
While no system can completely eliminate the risk of individuals trying to cheat the system, the Electoral College minimizes the incentives for voter fraud because the system isolates the impact of stolen votes. Under the current system, stolen votes only affect the outcome of one state rather than the national outcome. This is because fraudulent votes may win the state, securing the electoral votes, but it would make no difference for the candidate to win that state with 100 stolen votes or 100,000 since the candidate would secure the same electoral votes regardless.5 Under a national popular vote system, though, votes stolen in one state would have an impact beyond that state’s border, since those illegitimate votes would be added to the national vote total.