Saturday, August 23, 2008

A HUMDINGER?

We have had two humming bird feeders up most of the summer, but haven't seen very many little hummers. This morning when I went out to do some yard work I noticed that one of the feeding bottles was unexpectedly empty. I made up some hummer food by putting sugar in hot water. When I went out to fill the bottle I was suddenly surrounded. As I stood on the deck table with the feeder still in my hand, humming birds buzzed all around me, some only inches from my head and hands. There were several kinds; some with white thoats and rust colored breasts, some with shiny dark green necks, and some with bright red tail feathers. I stood and watched, fascinated, as they stuck their long soda-straw beaks into the feeders and stuck out their tiny tongues to lap up sticky stuff just inches from my eyes. I carefully filled the empty bottle with fresh food. One bird immediately stuck his beak in the mixture, then suddenly withdrew and shook his head. The water was still hot! I backed away and let the feeder hang for a few minutes, but as the birds came and went I began to worry about what would happen if the birdies burned their tongues, so rushed to put the feeder in the refridgerator until it cooled. Had I killed them with (intended) kindness? When the sun was fully up, the birds all disappeared and I worried until the day began to cool and they returned like a squadron of tiny attack helicopters. It appears all is well, but a hummer with a burned tongue must certainly be as awful as an elephant with a runny nose.

BTW: A lady at the office told me about a little boy who was learning to read. He kept talking about a freakin' elephant. Shocked, the teacher hurried to check the book. Sure enough, it WAS about African elephants.

Sincerely,

Bob

2 comments:

kim and ned said...

Bev,
My grandparents finally got back to me about Bear Lake. They said that you could all come IF you are Ned and I's children. Seeing as your not, we have a problem. They did say that there is a great state park called Rendevous Beach State Park that is always available and has excellent bathrooms. They thought that would be our best bet. I'm so sorry that it took so long to get back to you. I wish that we could have stayed at the resort. BUMMER!

Just Mom said...

Just so it is recorded, the hummingbirds left this weekend, Sept. 6-7.Bob was filling the feeders twice and three times a day, and then, all of a sudden, nothing. He saw one yesterday, Sunday, and none today. Bev