The torrid unpleasantness continues. Back on 10/2 the local temperature reached a brutal 102F; since then, it’s dropped into the 90s, but not by a whole lot. 96 yesterday, 96 today, 96 tomorrow, then maybe actual autumn.
So as soon as there was enough light, I was out on my patio watering the plants, in the containers and in the garden strip, and spray-washing the ivy on the walls of the patio, all while it was still under 70F. When I came back inside and went to work at my computer, I got a treat: a two-act show by the local creatures, squirrels in Act 1, hummingbird in Act 2.
But to appreciate the show, you’ll need to sit through the prologue, a brief September song in three parts.
Prologue 1. The hummingbird. From my 9/6 posting “Hummingbird bathing”: the bird keeps coming back to my patio hoping to find the hummingbird feeder (long ago demolished), but this time it arrived just after I’d watered, so it took a bath in the drops of water on the big ivy leaves.
Prologue 2. The squirrel. From my 9/9 posting “Wildlife bulletin” on my attempts to chase an acorn-burying squirrel (another returnee from days long past) away from my patio garden.
Prologue 3. The squirrel redux. From my 9/30 posting “Garden days” with the return of the squirrel, now called Écu, once again chased away by my barking at it and knocking on the window.
Act 1. Scene 1. Squirrel versus rainfall. On 10/5, yesterday, after my watering: Écu dropped onto the patio, acorn in mouth, only to discover that the garden strip was soaking wet. It slowly advanced along the strip all the way to the other end, but all of it was wet, so it climbed up the wall, onto my neightbor’s trellis, leapt into the trees, and away.
Act 1. Scene 2. Two squirrels are better than one. 10/6, today: Écu appeared, with an acorn, but was mostly interested in lapping up the water in the dishes under the cymbidium pots; Écu was incredibly thirsty (it has been very very hot). Was then joined by its mate, who was also incredibly thirsty.
Once sated with cool water, they did some non-serious sexual fooling around (flirtatious mounting), which established that Écu is indeed male (they’re easy to tell apart; they’re so different in appearance they might not even be from the same (sub)species). Then they both picked up their acorns, skirted the wet garden strip to its end and once again departed, together, into the trees.
Act 2. Hummingbird, bathing in mid-air. 10/6, today. Now the hummingbird, which I have named Trock, after the all-male drag ballet company the Trocks, because the family of hummingbirds is the Trochilidae; I haven’t sexed the bird, so I’m going with a male drag name, figuring that covers all the bases.
In any case, a few minutes after the squirrels left, Trock appeared. I expected it to bathe on the big ivy leaves, but instead Trock went right to a cymbidium plant, its leaves arched in mid-air, and bathed in water caught in the Vs of the leaves, one after another. It might have drunk some water in the process.
From the Orchid board site, a photo of cymbidium leaves, just like mine, from member rachel.gazelles on 9/23/11; you have to imagine the water and the hummingbird
Utterly enchanting.
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