Told ya!

OMG. The hummingbirds just gave me a scare. I've been through an exciting sequence of terror and discovery!

There was a chickadee looking bird hanging around and Little Buzz was going nuts trying to chase it away from the nest. I stepped close and clapped my hands loudly in an annoying fashion to encourage it away. Noticed the nest was empty!!!!

Then I listened to Little Buzz and her chip, chip, chip-chip and tracked her to one of the babies sitting in the Mexican Sage! She fed it and flew off. The fledgling sat there calmly grooming itself as if it were used to fluttering around from spot to spot. So amazing to see right at eye level and an arm's length away. Even my poor eyesight perceived the pretty orange pink color inside baby's bill.

Now they are hanging out in a potted pine tree just outside the patio door where I hung the littlest feeder. Sat still long enough for Little Buzz to give me a scolding and them a feeding.

SO wonderful to see this! Last time I saw a hummingbird nest, it was at a dreary temp job and I pointed out the nest with the two oblong eggs, but they let me go before they hatched and I was forever bummed over not getting to see it. This afternoon I had the leisure to watch birds for a long time and I don't know whether the biologist or artist or storyteller part of me is the happiest right now.

Feeding the Fledgling

Laughed out loud when baby tried scratching its head with one foot, lost its balance, fell backward and had to flutter frantically trying to keep upright. Cute as kittens!

How to really remember that it's okay to take care of yourself, not just your loved ones?

Yep. I can do that.

PS: I hope you feel better soon, Jilli.

There have been so many folks around here who have been trying to shake the ick for weeks and weeks. That ain't right.

Love the hummingbird updates!

Trying to decide what to do with myself this afternoon/evening. Should probably take a long walk, since it's nice out, but not feeling enthused. OTOH, I keep not wanting to read the books on my kindle, so that I'll have them next week when I'm on vacation!

This afternoon I had the leisure to watch birds for a long time and I don't know whether the biologist or artist or storyteller part of me is the happiest right now.

All of of those aspects are making your reports on the hummingbird family's progress a delight. Thank you once again for sharing this with us.

Yay traveling hummingbabies!

YAY hummingbirds!!

So I made it to work for almost a whole shift and worked in the warehouse on a task that needs to be done but there's never anyone to do it. (Basically going through all the accesories saved for shelf displays and seeing what is stil active or not. Most of it went into recycling).

I asked if I could do this tomorrow, but there's only one person working so they need me on the sales floor. I told the assistant manger I couldn't make promises about how I would do talking so much.

I came home early because I got really tired and started nodding off. Came home to a warm house (68F!) then discovered I didn't put away the roast beef when I made a sandwich this mornig. it was the first time I'd used it so almost a lb of roast beef spoiled.

I get tired and my mind wanders and I forget to do things. Not sure what I'm going to do about lunch tomorrow, it all requires washing up and I haven't felt like doing much.

Sadly it seems I have accidentally deleted this afternoon's photos of the hummingbird twins. Figures. There were a couple of good ones.

They are sitting together on a clothesline right outside my window as the wind picks up and darkness falls. The chillier it gets, the better they get along. Only one day out of the nest and they were hassling each other over who got to sit where. Just like siblings, shoving each other and then wanting to do a little beak swordplay.

They still have a lot of down, particularly on their hindquarters, which I can see very well hanging over the clothesline. Fluffy little baby butts. Adorable. They have a stripey look to their faces that remind me of a mallard hen, if she were an elongated fashion model.

Can't wait to see what they do tomorrow. Stay tuned and thanks for the feedback.

Thanks for the mental images, Katie. Hummers are a lovely antidote to some of the less pleasant facets of daily reality. I look forward to tomorrow's hummingbird news.

bonny, I don't know if this is in your wheelhouse, but the most useful thing I've picked up in counseling is learning *that* not everything is mine to fix--even if I could, I shouldn't, because it robs the other person of the responsibility and opportunity to fix it him or herself. The second useful thing is learning to tell the difference.