Ramblings-n-Writings

Posts Tagged ‘hummingbird’

If you’ve been around Ramblings-n-Writings for awhile, you’ll know that I love hummingbirds. I count the days until ours return in the spring, faithfully watching the migration map, and mourn the time when they leave us for winter.

Last year, at the old house, we had feeders hanging from our porch roof so we could watch the hummies come and go. This year, in the new house, we don’t have porch roof and I couldn’t bear the thought of not seeing the little ones buzz around.

I hung a feeder in the garden off of a shepherd’s hook, but I couldn’t see the feeder from the window. Then, while at Wal-Mart a couple of weeks ago, I discovered a neat suction cup thing that lets you hang a feeder (hummingbird or regular bird) from a window.

I came home and promptly attached it to our living room window. Now I can see the hummingbirds every day! And, even with all the storms and wind, the feeder has stayed attached to the window!

Besides watching the little ones, I love taking their photos. It takes some patience, but the more the hummingbirds get used to my presence, the easier it becomes to snap their photo.

Since I’ve spent a lot of time outside the past few weeks, mainly relaxing in the sun while reading a book or working in the garden, the dive bombers are finally getting used to me. They no longer detour away from the feeder when they spot me.

Then this weekend, we got a surprise. We had two, sometimes three, hummingbirds that frequented our two feeders (one on the window, one in the garden) ever since the hummies arrived in April.

Suddenly, I started hearing a lot of hummingbird screeches and tweets. I went outside to watch and immediately came back in for cover. We have 5, possibly 6, hummingbirds! I managed to count 5 in the vicinity of the feeder at one time.

I’m not sure where the others came from, but I’m glad they’re here. We averaged about 8 last year, but that was after the babies started flying about.

Even though it’s now life threatening to walk across our front porch as the hummies zip and zing around, it’s neat to watch 2 or 3 hummies sit together on the feeder and eat. While capturing some of their action today, I discovered that a hummingbird wing is translucent…

You can click on the photo to make it bigger. Notice that you can still see the outline of his head and the flower stems behind him through the wings. How neat is that?

And, here’s a little lady sitting pretty…

Here’s a handy tip: If ants frequent your feeders, smear a little bit of vaseline on the top hook and on the top of the feeder. The ants can’t travel through the vaseline. Also put small quantities of hummingbird food (I use 1/4 cup sugar to 1 cup water, no red dye and no boiling necessary) in the feeder until the ants are deterred (that’s why my feeder looks empty). No sense in feeding the little critters more than necessary!