WESTERN HUMMINGBIRD VOL. 4

Nice ones guys!

This morning I am the good guy bad guy.
I'm playing cat and mouse with a mole
who has been terrorizing the pea patch. These are 2nd
planting and very young and don't need the digging under
them. Being a waiting game I have the camera out and
taking pics and waiting for movement, when I notice
this hummer buzzing my prototype bird net frame over
my blue and strawberries.(The bad guy, I built it)
Hmmm, thats interesting,
don't see them there except for the hollyhocks and arugula nearby,
so I investigate and oh my theres a hummer inside the net,
how did it houdini into that me wonders
and I think its a rufuous inside and anna out.
This pic is the frame and in the center is the two birds, anna on the
fence and rufuous above and right near the top. Amazing, the purple
highly artistically drawn circles highlite the little guys.

I have a frame door for the contraption and open it and figure
I can take what ever kind of pics of it and shoo it out and everyone
is happy. Poor thing, it looks like a con bird dying to get out.

But it stays..

and barely wants to move,

now me thinks it must be played out
and the anna is still outside buzzing it,
they almost touched beaks.
so I just gently palm it and it squeals
I roll it over on its back....

and it quiets down, so I figure I would
walk us down to the house and let it rest,
when this young flicker starts calling and calling,

so I have the hummer in one hand taking pics
of this flicker now being called by its daddy
to eat,
cool pic if it wasn't for the hummer never would of got it

so we rest alittle and talk to it and its quiet and free

so have a some warm water in a bowl,
and turn it over and dip its beak in the water and it
responds and it started to lick and get lively
and now upright
and flies away from the giant hand leaving a small
calling card on it, and a story to tell its friends.
and
the dang mole got away.
There's always tomorrow.

awww. nice. Quite the activity at your house, Dirt.

Wow dirt those are really nice pics! Love the green spots on his throat and of course the Flickers. Thanks for posting them!

That's a nice story and great photos. Love the Flickers. I've never seen a baby.

Sounds like the hummer just wore itself out and went into a torpor or inactive state. A dose of sugar water would have helped rejuvenate it too, but I'm glad the water worked for you. When we're banding these birds, we dip the tip of their bills part way into a sugar water feeder to help them revive, then let them sit on our open hands until they can fly off on their own.

You get the star for the day!

Duc, thanks for the star, if I was only fractionally experienced to remember you had
related what you do, but I was afraid of hurting it especially if it
wanted to struggle -- either inside the netted frame or in the house
where I store the sugar water, never thinking about a feeder.
I knew I had warm water because I just planted some seeds from that
blue delphinium and just didn't want to let it go because its been awfully dry
and a little bit warmer-- get this, it was a scorcher today got to 85. LOL
I know people who stayed in. I use to live in places where that was the temp
of the cold water there.
Thankyou Pelle and it was just a usual day Mrs. Ed,
(I kid)

A close up of my damsel in distress, ( I hope female but I dont know)
the pollen all over its beak and the cool markings below the eye.
Its also better groomed than the owner of the hand. I hope I didn't
scare it away (it was looking at me tooo) and stays healthy.
Have a good day all.

You didn't scare it away, they're really friendly birds. Heck, once we band one, it's possible to retrap it one or more times in the 5 hours that we have for a session of banding. They may be small and fragile looking, but they're tough little ones.

Another early morning frenzy at our house!

One of Anna's hummers looked quite handsome.

The new Lantanas are attracting my hummers.

One more cute guy.

Love that last shot duc!!

When I first saw this guy I thought it might be a Black-chinned Hummingbird, but I guess it's an Anna's.

Don't be disappointed Adel, he's good looking anyway!

Yes he is!

Female Rufous.

Nice one adel!

Good timing Adel!

This little Anna's just loves the morning bath.

This one loves the Lantana.

The lazy way.

Great pictures Duc, love the frenzy shot and the reflected image
and great shots adel.

Here's another lazy (but smart) one feeding.

from below,
furry

Wonderful shots guys!

Cute one Dirt!! The reds sure do a great job of attracting the hummers and make sure pretty photos!

Almost a clear shot.

This is my ghost flyer.

Another day of peace and tranquility. I still can't believe these two birds are willing to share.

love your peace and tranquil pic, Duc.

Such a cute pic dirt!

Oh dirt, that little girl is adorable!

This little lady was really carrying on a conversation with someone, maybe me.

I wonder if she was laughing? There wasn't any bird around, just us.

Cute!