One of a collection of brief postings that have nothing to do with my birthday (which is otherwise consuming much of my day).
The background: a long time ago, I had a hummingbird feeder hanging in my little patio garden, but the squirrels wrecked it and I never replaced it. Then the other bird feeders had to be gotten rid of, because (the condo management maintained) they were attracting rats. So my life has been essentially without birds for a very long time.
Then last week, I started getting daily visits from a hummingbird, which came and hovered for a while where, long ago, the hummingbird feeder hung. And came back a couple more times to check if it had magically reappeared, then flew off in disappointment.
Every morning the same routine.
Then yesterday, the bird arrived just after I had watered the patio garden, a procedure that includes spraying down the ivy that covers the patio walls (to wash off the nutrient-rich grit that comes to us all the way from the Gobi Desert, and to spiff up the ivy). So the big ivy leaves glistened with huge drops of water.
Which provided the hummingbird with 4 or 5 minutes of delirious pleasure, as it rubbed against the leaves, one after another, turning its little body to bathe in the water. It had not occurred to me that hummingbirds took baths, but it turns out they do — except that they usually insist on doing it in running water, so hummingbirdbaths are little fountains. I’d provided this one with the next best thing.
Yes, it came by this morning, but I hadn’t gotten to the watering yet, so it flew off, no doubt swearing in soft hummingbirdese.
September 8, 2024 at 4:28 am |
Sadly similar situation here – had a (forbidden) bird feeder on the balcony (3rd floor) but somehow the local mouse population figured out how to get up here to the feeder. Had to remove the feeder for now. Life is less interesting without avian visitors.
September 8, 2024 at 5:04 am |
☹️ Yes, life is less interesting. I especially miss the crows, who I got to know as individuals and who learned to trust me; they’re impressive creatures,
September 8, 2024 at 9:10 am |
We have been having a lot of fun with our birds here. Our neighborhood is a mature hardwood forest in many ways, and I have logged up to 35 species in one day. We have 1 seed feeder with doves, squirrels and chipmunks scavenging what falls on the ground, 2 suet feeders and 2 hummingbird feeders. The last will be taken down later this month after migration.