Hummingbirds. Just like Bigfoot.

[Recidiva]

I'm inordinately happy when hummingbirds come visit the feeder outside my window. We've had it out all summer and they have only been by with witnesses to see them twice.

Ulaven's favorite thing to do is hold his hands up and catch their attention and they come over and stare at the window, hovering like little Harrier jets ready to fight. I didn't know before this summer that they were so aggressive. But it looks like hummingbirds are kinda badass. Good for them.

By the time I get my camera out to take a picture, all I have to show is a big red feeder with a teensy little blotch by it. Look! Hummingbird! No. Smudge.

 

[Ishmael]

I'm inordinately happy when hummingbirds come visit the feeder outside my window. We've had it out all summer and they have only been by with witnesses to see them twice.

Ulaven's favorite thing to do is hold his hands up and catch their attention and they come over and stare at the window, hovering like little Harrier jets ready to fight. I didn't know before this summer that they were so aggressive. But it looks like hummingbirds are kinda badass. Good for them.

By the time I get my camera out to take a picture, all I have to show is a big red feeder with a teensy little blotch by it. Look! Hummingbird! No. Smudge.

I've got three feeders out and the local pair(s?) defend them with diligence. They are extraordinarily aggressive. They are also surprisingly loud.

Ishmael

 

[Recidiva]

I've got three feeders out and the local pair(s?) defend them with diligence. They are extraordinarily aggressive. They are also surprisingly loud.

Ishmael

I haven't heard them. Now I need to put out high speed cameras and microphones.

Do they...squawk? Hiss?

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

I have one feeder and gardens designed so that something is blooming all of the time.


ee had me read Miller's "Stand still Like the Hummingbird."


There was a good part in it about a man who had only read one book in his entire life, but what made him special was that he understood it.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

I haven't heard them. Now I need to put out high speed cameras and microphones.

Do they...squawk? Hiss?

They make a squeaky tweet and when they are right above you it can sound like a scaled-down helicopter...

 

[Recidiva]

Holy crap...that is a LOT of hummingbirds...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJEA_kAqUso

 

[Ishmael]

I haven't heard them. Now I need to put out high speed cameras and microphones.

Do they...squawk? Hiss?

High pitched short 'cheeps' repeated repeated with machine-gun like staccato.

The dominant species here are the'

Black Chinned Hummingbird

with a few Ruby-Throated outliers. The Black Chinned are the most aggressive.

Ishmael

 

[Recidiva]

I have one feeder and gardens designed so that something is blooming all of the time.


ee had me read Miller's "Stand still Like the Hummingbird."


There was a good part in it about a man who had only read one book in his entire life, but what made him special was that he understood it.

We've seen them on the flowers, and there's so many around here I didn't think they'd find the feeder, but we were just about to pull it down and give up...and then we procrastinated...and then there was a hummingbird. And then six in a row, in one day, then none for a week.

I'm wondering if there are flocks moving through, I don't know their patterns.

We have regular feeders for birds in the back yard and I go through a stack of suet a week and I buy birdseed in 40 pound bags.

Maybe in a few years I'll have more hummingbirds.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

We have rubies...





In the fall as they gather to head south, they go crazy and fill the yard with little versions of WWI dogfights. That is my favorite time of the hummer cycle.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

We've seen them on the flowers, and there's so many around here I didn't think they'd find the feeder, but we were just about to pull it down and give up...and then we procrastinated...and then there was a hummingbird. And then six in a row, in one day, then none for a week.

I'm wondering if there are flocks moving through, I don't know their patterns.

We have regular feeders for birds in the back yard and I go through a stack of suet a week and I buy birdseed in 40 pound bags.

Maybe in a few years I'll have more hummingbirds.

Yes. They are territorial until time to go. Right now we just have the one, but any day now, we will see the gathering.

 

[Recidiva]

High pitched short 'cheeps' repeated repeated with machine-gun like staccato.

The dominant species here are the'

Black Chinned Hummingbird

with a few Ruby-Throated outliers. The Black Chinned are the most aggressive.

Ishmael

When we were in Florida I saw them on the shrimp plant all the time.

I haven't seen any ruby throated, but I guess I've seen the Rufous. More of an overall iridescent green, but of varying shades, so I've seen more than just one bird.

 

[Recidiva]

We have rubies...





In the fall as they gather to head south, they go crazy and fill the yard with little versions of WWI dogfights. That is my favorite time of the hummer cycle.

We have so much wildlife here it's really wonderful. The main spectacle out my window right about now is rampant butterfly sex. Everywhere.

We saw a fox run by last week. In the side yard where I look out there are families of bunnies and we saw a family of three deer munching on the plants and I'm just saying "Eat The Weeds!"

My son called me on his cell phone while taking the dog for a walk. "Do they have grizzlies here?" "No, just black bears, they're not really aggressive, but don't get close." "Uh, yeah. Okay. So it won't eat us?"

 

[Ishmael]

Around migration time there the birds from the higher elevations start making an appearance and several species will be seen all at once.

Ishmael

 

[Recidiva]

Around migration time there the birds from the higher elevations start making an appearance and several species will be seen all at once.

Ishmael

I was wondering if we'd just left the nectar in the feeder too long and they were attracted to it because it was alcoholic now.

Turns out there is stabilizer in the recipe, but it's not hard to imagine their behavior as being alcohol induced. Aggressive, weaving around, ready to start a fight.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

We have so much wildlife here it's really wonderful. The main spectacle out my window right about now is rampant butterfly sex. Everywhere.

We saw a fox run by last week. In the side yard where I look out there are families of bunnies and we saw a family of three deer munching on the plants and I'm just saying "Eat The Weeds!"

My son called me on his cell phone while taking the dog for a walk. "Do they have grizzlies here?" "No, just black bears, they're not really aggressive, but don't get close." "Uh, yeah. Okay. So it won't eat us?"

Yeah. Wildlife is wonderful. It killed all our chickens and rabbits.

I have been ruthlessly trapping all summer and getting my revenge though.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Around migration time there the birds from the higher elevations start making an appearance and several species will be seen all at once.

Ishmael

I've seen a big emerald once.


Once.


Not much variety on the Mississippi...

 

[Recidiva]

Yeah. Wildlife is wonderful. It killed all our chickens and rabbits.

I have been ruthlessly trapping all summer and getting my revenge though.

We used to have chickens here. Gods, I hated them.

I know I don't have psychic powers, because I tried to remotely make their heads explode at 2 am when the roosters decided it was morning.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

I like the eggs.


We eat the roosters as soon as they start that crowing shit.

 

[Recidiva]

I like the eggs.


We eat the roosters as soon as they start that crowing shit.

When I grew up here it was entirely functional, vegetable garden and chicken coop.

Now that it's ornamental and I can just harvest herbs, don't have to worry about Japanese beetles and don't have to listen to chickens, I think it's an upgrade.

I like eggs too though.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

I like having a crises garden.

I put the beetle traps out in the forest and that really cuts down on the problem.

 

[trysail]

On occasion, I've been startled by them as I notice them out of the corner of my eye and instinctually jump three feet. My brain says, "Jesus God, I don't want to be bitten by that thing— that's the biggest fucking mosquito I ever seen." After twenty seconds, I realize the thing is a hummingbird.


There's a Nature (U.S. public television network) episode on them that is fascinating. Their metabolism is so super-charged that it's necessary for them to accommodate enormous swings in heart rate and body temperature if they're to sleep through cooler nights. They enter a torpor state: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummingbird


They're all over the Caribees. Around here, the ruby-throats predominate.

 

[Recidiva]

I like having a crises garden.

I put the beetle traps out in the forest and that really cuts down on the problem.

I have a crisis box. Everyone was surprised when Hurricane Sandy hit that I have a huge box stocked with ridiculously overthought things. Water tablets, water filtering bags, mylar blankets, MRE's...

Seriously, all we needed were the batteries and lamps, but I overprepare.

 

[Recidiva]

On occasion, I've been startled by them as I notice them out of the corner of my eye and instinctually jump three feet. My brain says, "Jesus God, I don't want to be bitten by that thing— that's the biggest fucking mosquito I ever seen." After twenty seconds, I realize the thing is a hummingbird.


There's a Nature (U.S. public television network) episode on them that is fascinating. Their metabolism is so super-charged that it's necessary for them to accommodate enormous swings in heart rate and body temperature if they're to sleep through cooler nights. They enter a torpor state: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummingbird


They're all over the Caribees. Around here, the ruby-throats predominate.

They are startling, and I've seen them about as often as I've seen shooting stars. I'm looking forward to getting used to them. But they're really just too cool and that's probably never going to happen.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

My wife went from hoarder to prepper.



Almost the same difference; I still cannot get to my tools in the basement...

 

[Recidiva]

My wife went from hoarder to prepper.



Almost the same difference; I still cannot get to my tools in the basement...

It paid off. I made a convincing leader during this last hurricane and hosted my parents and my sister and brother in law and one of my parents' friends who wasn't able to care for herself.

No garden 'cause it was October and I'd only been here one week.

My dad was incredibly wise in having the stove hooked up to non-electrical sources, so we had heat.