Do hummingbirds ever have an obesity problem? Should I worry about these useless slackers hanging around the feeder and sucking off the dole we provide when they're obviously able-bodied beasts and should be out there earning their keep in the pursuit of nectar in the blossoms on the apple trees and wild cherries? Am I enabling their dependency and destroying their work ethic by encouraging the S.O. to keep the feeders filled? And what are we doing to the eco-system: are we going to be overrun by hummingbirds because they've got a guaranteed food supply? Are we making them more vulnerable to predation or disease by encouraging them to congregate in our yard instead of dispersing in a more natural pattern?

I do actually wonder about the effect of bird feeders on bird populations and ecosystems in general. We humans tend to feed the cute animals (or, in the case of hummingbirds, the dazzling ones -- after you've watched the vicious little bastards beating the crap out of each other for awhile, you realize there's no way they qualify as cute) while being oblivious to the potential effects of unnatural influences on the food supply. What happens to the hummingbirds if some summer we're not here to put out the feeder? How long would they hang around wondering where it was if it disappeared? I guess this is one of the benefits of being on vacation. . . having the time to contemplate hummingbird epistemology -- what do ruby-throated hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) know, how do they know it, and do they know that they know? Are hummingbirds deep thinkers or are they the avian equivalent of Fox News viewers?

[Photo taken by the S.O. a few days ago.]