It started last summer when I first installed our cheapy plastic feeder. I'd find myself standing by our bedroom window, just staring out, waiting for the tiny birds to appear. Sometimes, I'd peer out of the living room window, as if a sideways glance might encourage visitors. And then one day, they showed up. A greedy brigade, completely happy to suck down the "hummingbird crack" I so cheerfully provide. (Recipe: Boil one part sugar to four parts water until the sugar is dissolved. Let cool before "serving." The secret, I think, is that I keep vanilla beans in my sugar.)
Well this year, my fancy pants new glass feeder seems to have attracted all of the pretties. Emerald backs, ruby throats, swatches of purple. Gorgeous itty bitty birds everywhere. So, I confess, I am a 29-going-on-85 bird watcher, and I stare at them all of the time. AND I just might keep my long lens on the dresser so I can catch them mid-meal.
Enjoy!
.JPG) |
| Never you mind the mostly dead plant to the left. Anyone have advice for keeping verbena alive? |
.JPG) |
| Reminds me of a logo for some reason. Hrm. |
 |
| Coming in for a landing. |
 |
| "Whatchu lookin' at? I'm EATIN' here." |
 |
| Chillin'. |
 |
| Gorgeous. |
 |
| "MINES." |
 |
| It cracks me up when two or three "fight" for the feeder. |
 |
| Seriously, that sad, sad verbena needs help. |
 |
| I will have to do research soon to figure out which are the ladies and which are the gents. |
 |
| Proud little fella. |
xoxo,
shawna
.JPG)
.JPG)
Bird world is reversed from the human: dudes are pretty and the girls are dull. Most of them are probably Anna's, but one of those males looks a bit like a Black Chinned...
ReplyDeleteWhat's this? My friendly neighborhood Iron Man is also a birder??
ReplyDeleteOk so my husband had been wanting a hummingbird feeder so I picked one up this last weekend and we hung it up in a tree just off our porch (I've been jealous of all your bird watching success). I thought it'd take a while for the hummingbirds to actually find it, but I think by the next day we had our first visitors! We were so excited! I just happened to have a bird guide book so I looked them up... looks like we've seen a male and female Black Chinned... the male has the black head and the female is mostly grey with whitish on her chest. Looks like your 1st and 3rd pictures show this kind. Can't wait to see if we get some of the more colorful ones like you've got! Also... looks like the feeder I got is exactly like yours, except the glass part of mine is clear. I really like your red one though. The husband already wants a second feeder so maybe I'll get a red one! Anyway, we've been sitting out on our porch with a pair of binoculars every night since we put that thing up. We're addicted too!
ReplyDelete