Did a hummingbird spit in your feeder or something?

Today’s question: The hummingbirds last summer were very friendly. This summer, not so. Are some species naturally friendly? Gee, I don’t know. As far as I can tell nothing has happened to make hummingbirds any more or less friendly than they ever were.

Has one particular bird done something to hurt your feelings? Spit on you? Made fun of your knees? Try not to be so sensitive. Maybe the bird was just having a bad day.

Actually, hummingbirds are not all that friendly. They may be sort of docile around humans who keep their feeders clean and full, but in the bird world, they are not exactly feathered little Dale Carnegies. They are aggressively territorial and very careful about protecting their food sources from interlopers.

Rufous hummingbirds seem to be especially cantankerous, although we usually only see them during migration seasons.

Anyway, I wouldn’t worry about it too much if I were you. It was probably just that one hummingbird having a bad day.

I’m sure you have lots of other friends. Probably.

Our topic has to do with wrong-way drivers. Could they possibly install those damaging cleats on exit ramps that only affect cars going the wrong way? That way, when a car pulls onto the wrong ramp, it would immediately get a flat or whatever damage.

A few years ago the Texas Department of Transportation did a study that showed spikes only work on vehicles moving at around 5 mph and don’t deflate tires fast enough to keep a vehicle off a freeway.