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Saturday, September 13, 2008

New Thing #246--Hummer

I was outside pulling weeds today, when I looked up and I saw a hummingbird feeding at a flower in my garden.

I love hummingbirds. Earlier this year I put a hummingbird feeder in a tree off my deck. Although I've religiously kept it clean and filled, there's been no evidence that any birds have used it. I'd just about written the little birds off.

I was stooping down by a bed next to the garage getting the last of a dandelion plant out of the bed. I'm not sure why I looked up just as I did, but the hummer was feeding at a canna blossom about five feet away from me! According to Hummingbirds.net, I'm pretty sure it was a female Ruby-throated. It was not as colorful as a male would be, but had the typical hummingbird long beak. I could hardly see its wings, they were moving so fast.

I stood up, trying to stay as still as possible, but I must have scared the bird, which flew up onto a tree in my neighbor's yard. It looked very tiny sitting on the branch. It occurred to me that in all the pictures and videos I've seen there's never been a hummingbird at rest. After a few seconds, it flew off into the distance.

2 comments:

  1. What a coincidence! We've had a hummingbird feeder all year, too.

    As with you, I never saw any evidence of a bird having been there. That's a lot of work for nothing!

    However, today, hummingbirds appeared and have been eating A LOT.

    Our feeder is really cool looking, but not very red. So, my wife made some streamers out of bright red vinyl, and we hung them around the feeder. Evidently, it worked!

    We also put up a finch feeder for the first time ever a couple of weekends ago, and our yard is now the Finch Mecca!

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  2. I think those hummingbird feeders are a big scam!

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