Yesterday afternoon, over the Sunny Meadow Garden, there was a near mid-air collision between a fast-moving "harrier" and a languid "ornithopter": A Ruby-throated Hummingbird, dashing on direct flight to the next nectar spot, almost flew into an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. The hummer, no bigger than one set of the butterflies wings, instantly stopped its forward motion, backed a little bit, then buzzed all around the slowly flapping swallowtail (probably chittering away at it, though I couldn't hear since I was watching from a closed upstairs window) then streaked off.
Early this morning, in the Old Sunflower House area, a tiny House Wren zoomed out of its house to THE favorite perch on top of the arch trellis, only to find it occupied by an even tinier Ruby-throated Hummingbird momentarily resting its wings. Ousted, the hummer buzzed all around, telling the wren off, no doubt (again watching from closed upstairs window) then streaked off.
I was watching it in the garden this morning with a pair of Sparkling Violetears, which are about the same size as sparrows. The loser ended up in my kitchen, hiding I guess, since there isn't anything in there that would otherwise appeal to a hummie. 
