Still fascinated by hummingbirds

I've just got to write another post about hummingbirds.  Now that spring has arrived, there is a hummingbird sighting at our house almost every day, but I still haven't been quick enough to snap a picture.  You would think the little birds would be thin and undernourished this time of year, but we had a good laugh recently observing a chubby little bird at the feeder.  Of course, he was probably chuckling at the two hefty humans staring at him through the window.

The feeder. Which feeder attracts the most birds?  Too large, and the nectar goes bad before the birds drink it all up.  Too small, and you spend quite a bit of time refilling the bottle. One summer, I decided to splurge and buy a fancy decorated feeder with an interesting shape.

 The birds dissed it completely.  We are now back to the standard feeder.

The nectar.   The nectar I make up is one-fourth cup of sugar to one cup of water.  I bring it to a boil on the stove and then cool it.  When there is leftover nectar, I refrigerate it and hope no one mistakenly takes a swig.  I once read that if you don't boil the water, birds will get a disease and their beaks will fall off.  I certainly did not want that on my conscience.  But I have since read that you can skip the cooking and just mix the sugar and water without unpleasant consequences. You are supposed to clean the bottle and refill the nectar every few days, especially when the weather is hot.  And you wash the bottle with vinegar, not soap and water. Yes, the beautiful little birds are worth the time and trouble.

Hummingbird behavior. Hummingbirds are fascinating to watch as they are flying.  As a matter of fact, their feet are used for perching only, not walking, so they spend quite a bit of their day in the air.  They can fly in different different directions and hover by flapping their tiny wings in a figure eight pattern.  And, true to their name, they make a humming sound.  I have been delighted to hear the humming as they rush past me to get to the feeder.

Names for hummingbirds. I love the Portuguese name for hummingbird - beija-flor, literally, kiss the flower.  And in Spanish, I have heard the term colibrí, which has a lyrical lilt, and also the more descriptive chupaflor, suck the flower.  There are other Spanish names for hummingbirds in different regions as well, joyas voladoras (flying jewels), picaflor (peck the flower), and el zunzun Caribbean (say zunzun and you will guess the origin).

My favorite hummingbird  Although there are over 300 species of hummingbirds in the Western Hemisphere, the unusual species that we are sometimes lucky enough to catch a glimpse of in our region is the Rufous hummingbird on migration from Mexico to Alaska.  The male Rufous has an orange-red throat patch and is a big bully.

But enough facts about hummingbird life.  I like this quote  from World of Hummingbirds: "Hummingbirds don't read books on what they are supposed to do and tend to do what they want."

So I think I'll just sit in the garden this summer and enjoy these feisty, colorful little gifts from nature.