Your Daily Dose of Hummingbirds, Volume 2

I know I haven't posted as much lately.  I think it's kind of a weird, hold-my-breath time.  Nick is coming to visit.  In a week and a day, he will be here for several days with two of his college friends. For several days.  Not long enough....but it could never be long enough.  There is a weird guilt thing going on in my head where I want him to want to stay longer, come to see me more often, but the truth of it is, I moved away from where he lives...happily, and successfully, even without his mama...go figure. He is currently 417 miles away from me...by road, of course.  If you fly a crow there, it's only 318 miles.  It's a ways, by car or by crow. Anyway, I will see him soon.  For long enough.  I guess. Don't worry, my poutiness will not detract from my happiness.

I was thinking, by crow it's 318 miles.  My experience is that crows do often seem to take the shortest route.  If it were as the hummingbird flies, it would be something like 1700 miles, certainly.  Or maybe when they migrate, they fly straight.  Here in my yard, they fly EVERYWHERE, everyminute, in loops and boops and zigs and zags and circles and pentagons, and pendulum dances for pretty girl hummingbirds (look it up, it's a thing they do). No wonder they need to drink from the everlasting nectar font every 7 seconds.  Because the rest of the time they are flying about 127 miles per hour around and about, chasing away intruders from their territory, BEING the intruder in the territory, or the sneaky thirdy birdy, the one who sneaks in for a sip while two are off duking it out with their little beaky swords and teeny tiny birdy fists.  I think they are hilarious.  And brilliant. Not to mention gorgeous little tidbits of creation.

They truly are so fast.  My attempts to take pictures are sometimes vague and confusing.

there are at least three and maybe four hummingbirds in this shot....flying at 127 mph (I made up that number)

Other times, they are downright cute.

I love when you can see their teeny tiny feet.  Did you know that hummingbirds can't walk or hop?

a girl

and her boy (he had just danced his dance for her)

hungry bird...with feet

rain doesn't bother them in the least

the males red throat usually doesn't look red...he can puff it out so it catches the light (and he has spider webs on his head)

looks like a teeny airplane

my favorite series...watching for intruders

possible intruder spotted

death glare right before the strike!

happy Mr. Hummingbird at our Whispering Pines camp

I think 43 hummingbirds have teased me outside the window while I typed this so far.  So you can be sure there will be more pictures coming.

When I haven't been transfixed watching these tiny miraculous tidbits perform outside my window, I have been continuing to enjoy the joys (hmm...that's where that word comes from) of my Spring of Springs.  

I am enjoying everchanging cycle of wildflowers.

I didn't realize that white trilliums all turn shades of pink as they age

this is a bog plant...that's all I know

beautiful forget-me-nots

I love the love stories that happen in the Spring.

Mrs. and Mr. Red-breasted Merganser

Ferdinand the bull (I really don't know his name) gazing fondly at his lady love

Lady Love

boy bluebird on the sauna, watching over

girl bluebird in the tree...who is keeping an eye on the nest box

while Mr. and Mrs. Tree Swallow lay claim to the other nest box

Just a few more Spring visitors to share:

perfectly yellow goldfinch

pretty mama pheasant continues to visit, with her beau

a rare visitor, probably blown north by strong south winds

bubbly bobolinks in the fields

and Mr. Oriole, enjoying some jelly in the rain (I like jelly in the rain, don't you?)

Enjoy your Spring visitors, everyone!

Spring Fling...an Ode to Spring

I am currently experiencing my best Spring EVER.

Just wanted you to know.

How does Spring (and I know I shouldn't capitalize that word, but it is such an ENTITY here, that I think it needs the proper-est of names) in Iowa compare to Spring in the UP?

In Iowa, most of the time Spring goes like this:  Lots of winter, ice, snow, wind chill, followed by melting...a few cool-ish days, then suddenly a lot of 70's and maybe 80's. Spring bulbs bloom, but don't last, because it just heats up too fast, most years.  By the time school is out, the AC has been on for some time to suck out the humidity from inside the houses and school buildings. Stuff greens up fast, and that is that...summer weather is here!

Spring in the UP comes in fits and starts.  First, the calendar SAYS it's Spring, which means NOTHING.  Then there are a few melting days, when you can start to see the ground in some places, and the intermittent streams and creeks are full to bursting. Water stands in the fields, creating ponds and marshes for shorebirds.

Click here to see a pretty little shorebird!

 LOTS of snow remains in the big piles left from drifts or plowing.  Some days you wake up to white, which begins to disappear a little more quickly.  A few warm days take out the ice in rivers and lakes. In spite of the slow start, birds and plants say it just MAY BE Spring, really.

Ever so slowly, green starts to appear.  LOTS of different shades of green.

And trees and bushes start to bloom!

Suddenly out of the leaf litter comes flowers you didn't know were there.

trout lilies

trillium

marsh marigolds

And strangers appear at the bird feeder.

savannah sparrow

chipping sparrow

not a sparrow

Mr. Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Mrs. Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Mrs. Red-winged Blackbird (MISTER is too chicken to pose!)

song sparrow

clay-colored sparrow

baltimore oriole (Mr. Jelly Eater)

Mrs. and Mr. Evening Grosbeak

white-throated sparrow

white-crowned sparrow (rare western taiga subspecies, because I'm a bird nerd!)

and the evening grosbeaks again, because I love the subtle coloring of the female!

young male Rose-breasted Grosbeak, just molting into his courting duds.  (I think he is the cutest thing ever!)

And just when you thought it was here for good, Spring has a laugh at your expense.

Click here to see my Saturday morning surprise!

And another when, ten hours later, the snow is gone.

and in the midst of it, Mr. Hummingbird shows up, because he doesn't mind no stinking snow!

Temperatures?  Along with a couple of sunny afternoons, like Mother's Day, when I was allowed to go to camp and just SIT OUT and enjoy the sun (and the resultant sunBURN!) comes a lot of cool days, and even cooler nights.  No gardening yet, because heavy frosts are still likely into the first weeks of JUNE here.

first bird visitor to camp

view from Splude Hill

But that's okay, because there is TIME.  Time to stop and turn off the TV and unplug and watch some Bird TV right outside the window.

Time to take a drive and see a different landscape coming alive more and more every day.

Time to remember the Creator of all this beauty and give Him thanks and thanks, and thanks again for bringing me to this beautiful place and for thinking up the infinite variety of living things in the world.

And even more thanks for the ability I've been given to recognize the beauty that surrounds me.

this picture is Bob's....he recognizes it, too

Every day.

Amen.