Woman Develops Bond With Over 200 Hummingbirds, Now They Complain If She’s Late To Feed Them
Meet Melanie Barboni, an assistant researcher in the UCLA Earth, Planetary and Space Science program, who is also known as the ‘hummingbird whisperer’. She built a community of 200 hummingbirds who live outside her office and come to complain if she’s late to serve their dinner.
Barboni has always been a bit obsessed with hummingbirds – even when she was a child in Switzerland, a country with an almost non-existant population of this species. “My dearest dream as a child was to see hummingbirds. Imagine my joy when I found out that my next job assignment would bring me to Los Angeles, where hummingbirds live year-round,” says Barboni.
The woman adds: “I cannot go to a place where they are not there… This is cheesy, but I have seen them help people. They make my life happy. Having a crappy day? Who cares — there are hummingbirds around… Having a good day? Hummingbirds make it better…”
More info: UCLA (h/t: laughingsquid)
Meet Melanie Barboni, an assistant researcher, who is also known as the ‘hummingbird whisperer’
She built a community of 200 hummingbirds who live outside her office 
They come to complain if she’s late to serve their dinner
“My dearest dream as a child was to see hummingbirds”
“Imagine my joy when I found out that my next job… would bring me… where hummingbirds live”
“I cannot go to a place where they are not there… I have seen them help people”
“They make my life happy. Having a crappy day? Who cares — there are hummingbirds around…”
See the beauty of 200 hummingbirds for yourself:
This story reminds me of my grandma :D she used to feed birds everyday but one day she forgot, so the bird took a flower from her garden, and just ripped it. He was threatening to ruin all the plants in her garden if she won't feed him. 😂
"It's a lovely garden you got here. It would be a shame if anything happened to it."
Wow she turned a hummingbird into a socialist :)
Isn't it kind of weird? in the wild they are free and independent. Then someone comes along and makes them so dependent on her for food, so much so that they actually complain if they are not fed, instead of going looking for food themselves. Wouldn't it be interesting if we fed all the hummingbirds in the world. We'd create a species dependent on us for survival. The effect of hummingbirds no longer eating what they usually eat, how will that change the ecosystem? Will they stop pollinating plants and just fly around and hang around the feeder all day? There's a reason why there are signs in zoos that say "Don't Feed the Animals".
Yes. It would be interesting, very interesting if this one woman's bird feeders had the effect of non pollination world-wide. I'm sure this feeder isn't their only source of food. Yes, feeding wildlife isn't a great idea overall, but neither is the creating of artificial plastic hummingbird feeders, and factory farms, and cheeseburgers, yet here we are. Just enjoy it.
I am a biologist and yeah, its totally wrong you use bird feeders to hummingbirds and yeah, they can stop to visit flowers!! Another stuff, this kinda feeder grows a fungii that can go to birds beaks and kill them. It would be perfect if she studied the kinda flowers those hummingbirds visit and planted them all over the city.
I feed hummingbirds, too, up here in CT. They hover around while I refresh their nectar, but a mother hummingbird feeds her young gnats, flies, and other i sects they pluck out of the sky. The nectar helps them retain energy, and they eat from the flowers, too. Before they leave in October, I need to amp up the sugar to water ratio!
We already got a lot of species depending on us for survival. Domesticated dogs, cows, pigs etc. We stripped them of their natural abilities to survive, because we wanted cute looking pets and maximum meat producing live stock and so on.. Sad.
I think many breeds would have trouble in the wild. Chihuahuas, pugs etc.
Dogs and pigs easily go back to wild and survive on their own.
Isn't it the same thing for dogs and cats?
Hummingbirds will never be completely dependent on nectar feeders from people, because this is only a portion of their diet. They are voracious insect eaters, snapping them right out of the sky while they fly. The nectar, whether from flowers or a feeder, is a source of quick energy for them to refuel and go find more insects. In an urban area, feeders are more of a help than a hindrance, where there may be a lack of flowers the birds need.
Not all hummingbirds eat nectar AND INSECTS!! And yeah, ITS VERY WRON TO USE BIRD FEEDERS TO THEM, no matter what you think!
Or she has increased the Hummingbird population somewhat. Honestly there are so many terrible things in the world, this woman genuinely enjoying the company of Hummingbirds is not one of them.
Works with people raised in a welfare state.
Plz plant more flower, bush and tree, but not feed them directly.
I feed hummingbirds in my front yard. However, I do NOT have a "hummingbird feeder". Instead, I have zinnias, coneflowers, sun flowers, hibiscus, etc. I love watching the hummingbirds and butterflies (or flutterbies, as I call them).
Is maintaining an unnatural amount of flowers really all that different from having a feeder?
Both bee balm and echinacea are wildflowers. Whats unnatural is our human habit of "taming the wild" with lawns and taking away habitat. I don't have "unnatural" beds of flowers, they're planted on a bank and allowed to grow wild. Echinacea is a perennial and they both re-seed naturally. Habitat building and restoration works.
Yes it is, because they are just finding what they were looking for anyway and eating naturally. If you take out all of your flowers they will just go somewhere else and feed.
Perfect!!!
I love hummingbirds.
The hummingbirds have such amazing colours on their feathers!
I'm like that with bunnies. One day I'll be known as the crazy bunny lady (life goals).
Pretty pretty!
a human who literally loves their job, something we all want. tbh tho, you really can't go wrong with humming birds. (unless you hate birds)
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wow they are beautiful. Some people at school call me the bug whisperer. But this is just amazing
My dad was a real "mans man"! But how he loved his hummingbirds! I can see him like it was yesterday! A big burly man attending to his hummingbird feeders EVERY DAY!
What a sweet lady! It's beautiful that she pumps happiness from giving love to animals in need! I love the way her face shines..!
These are my favourite birds <3
Just look at that demanding little face!!! LOL
I admit I´m jealous on this woman because in Germany we don´t have any hummingbirds, she´s a lucky woman to be able to watch them at the feeder every day, I love those little birds, whenever there´s a docu about them on TV I watch it!!!
Awww the shiny necks! So cute!
Wonderful- childhood dreams can become reality if you have at it. ❤
I can only have one bird at a time. They are very territorial and chase each other away. I have no idea how people manage to have so many at once.
NORMAL hummingbirds are very territorial and aggressive. These birds are already corrupted and their natural hormonal mechanisms don't work properly anymore. I guess they're domesticated in a way.
We've gone through 25 pounds of sugar this year feeding ours and the season is not yet over.
*Sorry for the english.
She is lovely <3
You are lucky that your hummingbirds get along. Ours here in Phoenix don't like to share and chase each other away from the feeder. They look like little jet fighters zooming through the air with one a couple feet behind the other.
Amazing.
I'd like to know how hummingbirds have helped people. On not saying it couldn't happen, I just can't think of how it would happen. I've seen all sorts of animals do amazing things. They are far more intelligent and far far more aware of our world and how we treat them than most people will admit.
Hummingbirds are important pollinators. They also eat insects that are garden and people pests.
Great close-up photos.
i have three feeders on my first floor kitchen window but here in the uk i just get sparrows, wish i had hummingbirds, but i do love my sparrows DSC0015-7-...e64d3c.jpg
How does she get them to share the feeder like that? Mine fight each other to keep the others away from the feeder that they consider theirs.
I saw a lot of fighting in this video.
Cool
Mind are spoiled: flowers, veggies, bushes, and feeders!!!!!!!
I've always wanted to hold a hummingbird, not to keep it, but just to examine it closely.
I don't think there is as big a difference between planting annual flowers to attract hummingbirds and using a feeder as people think. You are still pulling the birds away from other areas with food that wouldn't be there without your efforts. Especially if you are planting new plants every year.
Go read ecology!
Perennial wildflowers and flowering and fruiting trees and shrubs create and restore habitat. Even re-seeding annuals are a good thing. Many wildflowers are annual and re-seed. Columbine and monarda (bee balm) are two of them.
Just like me and my kitty Kats! ^_^
This is adorable beyond belief
I love hummingbirds I hold feeders and they come sit at the feeder
She is lucky😊
I guess she must be a wonderful woman and i do believe she loves theses birds, but i guess that put a feeder to hummingbirds is not a nice stuff. They can stop to visit flowers and so the polinization would be affected. Other thing is that theses feder must be very clean, or it could develop a kind of fungii that acts like a killer to these birds.
Which is why she cleans it every day before she feeds them. Hummingbirds are NOT the only pollinator on the block.
Yeah, she probably single handedly ruined our planet. Way to go hummingbird whisperer.
i am a Biologist and I tell PROBLABY THERE ARE FLOWERS ON THIS CITY WHOSE POLLINATOR IS ONLY A SPECIAL HUMMINGBIRD!!! If you dont agre with that f... sorry, go read more, lady. Hugs from Rio!
I wrote more or less the same thing further up. There are signs in zoos saying "Don't Feed the Animals" for the same reason. People always want to mess with nature for no reason, and then we all suffer the consequences of it.
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You can't watch the video bc the stupid memorial service commercial keeps coming on. Turn the thing off for goodness sake or what is the purpose of the story video
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Aw... One day she'll find a man.
Aw... one day you he'll find a heart.
...because it's probably too late for him to find a brain...
This story reminds me of my grandma :D she used to feed birds everyday but one day she forgot, so the bird took a flower from her garden, and just ripped it. He was threatening to ruin all the plants in her garden if she won't feed him. 😂
"It's a lovely garden you got here. It would be a shame if anything happened to it."
Wow she turned a hummingbird into a socialist :)
Isn't it kind of weird? in the wild they are free and independent. Then someone comes along and makes them so dependent on her for food, so much so that they actually complain if they are not fed, instead of going looking for food themselves. Wouldn't it be interesting if we fed all the hummingbirds in the world. We'd create a species dependent on us for survival. The effect of hummingbirds no longer eating what they usually eat, how will that change the ecosystem? Will they stop pollinating plants and just fly around and hang around the feeder all day? There's a reason why there are signs in zoos that say "Don't Feed the Animals".
Yes. It would be interesting, very interesting if this one woman's bird feeders had the effect of non pollination world-wide. I'm sure this feeder isn't their only source of food. Yes, feeding wildlife isn't a great idea overall, but neither is the creating of artificial plastic hummingbird feeders, and factory farms, and cheeseburgers, yet here we are. Just enjoy it.
I am a biologist and yeah, its totally wrong you use bird feeders to hummingbirds and yeah, they can stop to visit flowers!! Another stuff, this kinda feeder grows a fungii that can go to birds beaks and kill them. It would be perfect if she studied the kinda flowers those hummingbirds visit and planted them all over the city.
I feed hummingbirds, too, up here in CT. They hover around while I refresh their nectar, but a mother hummingbird feeds her young gnats, flies, and other i sects they pluck out of the sky. The nectar helps them retain energy, and they eat from the flowers, too. Before they leave in October, I need to amp up the sugar to water ratio!
We already got a lot of species depending on us for survival. Domesticated dogs, cows, pigs etc. We stripped them of their natural abilities to survive, because we wanted cute looking pets and maximum meat producing live stock and so on.. Sad.
I think many breeds would have trouble in the wild. Chihuahuas, pugs etc.
Dogs and pigs easily go back to wild and survive on their own.
Isn't it the same thing for dogs and cats?
Hummingbirds will never be completely dependent on nectar feeders from people, because this is only a portion of their diet. They are voracious insect eaters, snapping them right out of the sky while they fly. The nectar, whether from flowers or a feeder, is a source of quick energy for them to refuel and go find more insects. In an urban area, feeders are more of a help than a hindrance, where there may be a lack of flowers the birds need.
Not all hummingbirds eat nectar AND INSECTS!! And yeah, ITS VERY WRON TO USE BIRD FEEDERS TO THEM, no matter what you think!
Or she has increased the Hummingbird population somewhat. Honestly there are so many terrible things in the world, this woman genuinely enjoying the company of Hummingbirds is not one of them.
Works with people raised in a welfare state.
Plz plant more flower, bush and tree, but not feed them directly.
I feed hummingbirds in my front yard. However, I do NOT have a "hummingbird feeder". Instead, I have zinnias, coneflowers, sun flowers, hibiscus, etc. I love watching the hummingbirds and butterflies (or flutterbies, as I call them).
Is maintaining an unnatural amount of flowers really all that different from having a feeder?
Both bee balm and echinacea are wildflowers. Whats unnatural is our human habit of "taming the wild" with lawns and taking away habitat. I don't have "unnatural" beds of flowers, they're planted on a bank and allowed to grow wild. Echinacea is a perennial and they both re-seed naturally. Habitat building and restoration works.
Yes it is, because they are just finding what they were looking for anyway and eating naturally. If you take out all of your flowers they will just go somewhere else and feed.
Perfect!!!
I love hummingbirds.
The hummingbirds have such amazing colours on their feathers!
I'm like that with bunnies. One day I'll be known as the crazy bunny lady (life goals).
Pretty pretty!
a human who literally loves their job, something we all want. tbh tho, you really can't go wrong with humming birds. (unless you hate birds)
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
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wow they are beautiful. Some people at school call me the bug whisperer. But this is just amazing
My dad was a real "mans man"! But how he loved his hummingbirds! I can see him like it was yesterday! A big burly man attending to his hummingbird feeders EVERY DAY!
What a sweet lady! It's beautiful that she pumps happiness from giving love to animals in need! I love the way her face shines..!
These are my favourite birds <3
Just look at that demanding little face!!! LOL
I admit I´m jealous on this woman because in Germany we don´t have any hummingbirds, she´s a lucky woman to be able to watch them at the feeder every day, I love those little birds, whenever there´s a docu about them on TV I watch it!!!
Awww the shiny necks! So cute!
Wonderful- childhood dreams can become reality if you have at it. ❤
I can only have one bird at a time. They are very territorial and chase each other away. I have no idea how people manage to have so many at once.
NORMAL hummingbirds are very territorial and aggressive. These birds are already corrupted and their natural hormonal mechanisms don't work properly anymore. I guess they're domesticated in a way.
We've gone through 25 pounds of sugar this year feeding ours and the season is not yet over.
*Sorry for the english.
She is lovely <3
You are lucky that your hummingbirds get along. Ours here in Phoenix don't like to share and chase each other away from the feeder. They look like little jet fighters zooming through the air with one a couple feet behind the other.
Amazing.
I'd like to know how hummingbirds have helped people. On not saying it couldn't happen, I just can't think of how it would happen. I've seen all sorts of animals do amazing things. They are far more intelligent and far far more aware of our world and how we treat them than most people will admit.
Hummingbirds are important pollinators. They also eat insects that are garden and people pests.
Great close-up photos.
i have three feeders on my first floor kitchen window but here in the uk i just get sparrows, wish i had hummingbirds, but i do love my sparrows DSC0015-7-...e64d3c.jpg
How does she get them to share the feeder like that? Mine fight each other to keep the others away from the feeder that they consider theirs.
I saw a lot of fighting in this video.
Cool
Mind are spoiled: flowers, veggies, bushes, and feeders!!!!!!!
I've always wanted to hold a hummingbird, not to keep it, but just to examine it closely.
I don't think there is as big a difference between planting annual flowers to attract hummingbirds and using a feeder as people think. You are still pulling the birds away from other areas with food that wouldn't be there without your efforts. Especially if you are planting new plants every year.
Go read ecology!
Perennial wildflowers and flowering and fruiting trees and shrubs create and restore habitat. Even re-seeding annuals are a good thing. Many wildflowers are annual and re-seed. Columbine and monarda (bee balm) are two of them.
Just like me and my kitty Kats! ^_^
This is adorable beyond belief
I love hummingbirds I hold feeders and they come sit at the feeder
She is lucky😊
I guess she must be a wonderful woman and i do believe she loves theses birds, but i guess that put a feeder to hummingbirds is not a nice stuff. They can stop to visit flowers and so the polinization would be affected. Other thing is that theses feder must be very clean, or it could develop a kind of fungii that acts like a killer to these birds.
Which is why she cleans it every day before she feeds them. Hummingbirds are NOT the only pollinator on the block.
Yeah, she probably single handedly ruined our planet. Way to go hummingbird whisperer.
i am a Biologist and I tell PROBLABY THERE ARE FLOWERS ON THIS CITY WHOSE POLLINATOR IS ONLY A SPECIAL HUMMINGBIRD!!! If you dont agre with that f... sorry, go read more, lady. Hugs from Rio!
I wrote more or less the same thing further up. There are signs in zoos saying "Don't Feed the Animals" for the same reason. People always want to mess with nature for no reason, and then we all suffer the consequences of it.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
You can't watch the video bc the stupid memorial service commercial keeps coming on. Turn the thing off for goodness sake or what is the purpose of the story video
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Aw... One day she'll find a man.
Aw... one day you he'll find a heart.
...because it's probably too late for him to find a brain...