It was a Hummingbird Morning

At last, a bit of success! We had a Calliope Hummingbird visit the feeder a couple of times during this past week, but each time I grabbed the camera and got to the window, he’d fly away. They summer in our area, but once the Rufous Hummingbirds arrive, they get little feeder time in our yard. My success was not with the Calliope, but I did manage to capture a male and a female Rufous.

First I caught sight of the male Rufous at the feeder, and captured him through my window. I wanted something closer, so I added a jacket for upper body warmth and shoes for foot warmth because it was a chilly morning, grabbed the camera, and parked myself on the steps of the deck, just a few feet from the feeder. The male, being male I suppose, refused to come back while I was there.

While I waited, I did get a female American Goldfinch on the fence. She sat quietly, posing nicely for me, for the time it took to get the angle so that my camera would focus on her, not on the post nearby. A true lady, she was. Of course, the possibility exists that it was really female vanity, wanting to be in the spotlight.

Ahha! The female Rufous has made her appearance. See her, to the upper left, blending rather well with the pine? Considering whether it is safe to eat a bit, with that large, rather funny-looking creature so nearby. Hey, girl, keep in mind that the funny-looking creature is the one that makes sure you are fed!

A little bit closer now. So far no attack has been launched, so it’s looking rather promising. The male Rufous tell stories to the females and later to their young about how large, funny-looking creatures are dangerous and they should avoid them at all costs. They do that, not because they want to protect their partners and their progeny, but because they are very protective of their feeders and they do not share well at all. Empire builders, they are – they want it all for themselves.

She decides just maybe her partner has told her stories that are untrue, because the large funny-looking creature has done no more than stay still with that object in front of her – the object that makes these tiny little clicky noises occasionally, but does not send out projectiles or do anything life-threatening. She will eat now, while she can, while the male is elsewhere.

Remember that little tiny pink bud I showed you the other day? It has now become a pretty pink flower, delighting my eyes and my heart.

Look carefully and you will see a view of a goldfinch that I do not often photograph, partly out of a sense of decorum – they might have a right to some privacy – but that morning I threw caution to the winds and decided to showcase the underside of the goldfinch that landed on the branch above my head. Kind of like those bare-bottom pictures we take of our babies and then share with their friends when they get older, you know?

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