I have a lovely maple tree in my own backyard and a line of pine trees extends along the back edge of my lot and two neighbouring lots, 18m wide each. Robins nest in the pines and in my maple. They are fierce when they defend their territory and will gang up on intruders, usually with success, driving away even crows and ravens.

The robin nest in the maple is on the south side of the tree. So is my clothesline. My southerly neighbour has a number of hummer attracting flowers and a feeder. So, the clothesline is a great spot for a hummer to sit to catch bugs and have the occasional feed in the neighbouring yard.

Two summers ago, I was working at my desk when a racket began outside my office window. The robins were obviously in great distress. A crow? A cat? Would they need my assistance? I rose to the window and saw four robins. Two on my neighbour's fence and two on my telephone wire. Each was spewing vehemence toward the maple. I searched the maple, thinking there must be a cat in the tree.

I was about to go outside when one of the robins flew toward the maple at speed. That was when I saw the threat. The hummer lifted off the clothesline straight up about 300mm as the robin went by and alit on the line after the robin had passed. He shook his head and ruffed his feathers as if in disdain smugness.

The robin landed in the maple, squawked and returned. Buddy dove downward and sideways, made a tight circle, smacked the robin in the back at about 1m from the line, and perched in the same spot. Each of the robins had a go at him, sometimes two of them at once. Ever see a robin sitting with wings out and mouth open, obviously overheated and exhausted? That's what I saw after about twenty minutes of futility.

And, that is when buddy decided to crank it up a notch. He flew to about 1m in front of a robin and baited it into attack. He did this with each robin, one after another. At one point, two robins collided in mid air. A half hour after I first looked out my window, the robins gave up and buddy went back to eating bugs. Lord and master of the yard... indeed.