Small but smart

A hummer from our yard

I’m talking about hummingbirds.  They are so pretty and so smart.  There must be a big brain in their heads.  They share the hummingbird feeder with a family of orioles, or perhaps several families of orioles.  The orioles can suck the feeder dry in a matter of days, so we got a gigantic one.  Now it lasts about a week before it needs to be filled again.

The feeder visited by several birds

We’ve been working a lot of hours and that was on my to-do list today.  That list was long because Tuesday is my only day off this week.  Around 5 PM a hummingbird came to the big windows and hovered there looking at us.  I know it was trying to tell me the feeder needed some food.  The hummers have done this before.  I’m amazed that they know someone in the house will go and fill the feeder up if they get our attention.  Now you have to be doing some kind of thinking to figure that out.

Orioles enjoying the feeder

The birds do sit in the trees and watch us bring the feeder in and put it back out again.  I guess they’ve figured out we have nectar in the house somewhere.  They did this sort of thing when we lived in California too.

Have you ever had a hummingbird alert you to an empty feeder?

Time for a new bird feeder

 Designer Bird Feeder.  The design collapses, which I thought was great!

If any of you have been reading this blog very long, you know we get strong winds in the desert.  Nothing is safe.  I would say, “unless it’s tired down,” but we’ve had staked trees break in half before.  I guess nothing really works against the wind that can gust to near hurricane force here at times.

We’ve had the barbecue grill blow right off the patio and turn over in the lawn.  The grill is not a tiny one either.  Our heavy metal patio chairs have taken flight as well and turned over, or fallen on pots and broken them.  Sometimes the strength of the wind amazes me.

My new summery bird feeder

Anyway, we’re always losing bird feeders because they blow down and get broken on the rocks.  I’d love to put up all my wind chimes (and I have a lot), but they probably wouldn’t be safe around here for long, so instead they’re still in a box in the garage.  That and hubby doesn’t want me putting holes in the stucco on the house.  In the twelve years we’ve been here, I have only put up two and they’re in safer places so they’ve stayed intact (so far).  And I’ve made no holes in the house to hang them up.  I still don’t see what difference holes will have on anything and I guess I never will.

 My new bird feeder hanging from a tree in the front yard

 

So when I was at Home Depot looking for something else, I ran across this designer bird feeder.  I just had to have it.  The bright yellow-gold color sucked me in.  It looked so summery.  I finally got around to putting it up.  It’s in the front yard this time and not the back because the chipmunks living back there on our rock wall will eat anything and tear up the yard in the process.

Now once the birds find it, I’ll be a happy camper.

A close call

The hummingbirds have been pestering me to put the feeder up for about a week or two now.  I finally got out and did it.  I had put it in the garage over the winter.  It was full of dead bees that I had to clean out.  It’s been rainy and chilly so I guess this job wasn’t at the top of my list

I really love this bird feeder because it holds a lot but it has a poor design as it takes a while to get it back together when I take it apart to clean and fill it, another reason for my procrastinating.

Baby Hummer

 

Then hubby was out sprinkling some grass seed in the bare patches on the lawn when this little guy hit the window.  At this point, I still had the feeder inside.  I felt terrible.  However, I don’t know if this had any bearing on whether this poor little thing would have hit the window or not, as birds hit the big windows all year long.  The hummers had been scolding me through the kitchen window, so maybe I was feeling a little bit guilty about not wanting to tackle this feeder.

 Things aren't looking good for this poor little hummingbird

Trying to get it's act together

We grabbed the camera and took multiple photos of his/her recovery.  It was touch and go for a while.  When this little bird finally took flight it landed about a foot away from my husband who reached down and petted it gently.

 Recovering slowly

 

It finally made it to this twine we have holding a tree up and then eventually to a tree.  We were happy it would be all right and live to see another day.

 "I can fly again."

 

The next day it was on the feeder along with the first orioles of the season.  It didn’t take them long to find it.  The orioles can drain it in under a week with several of them working on it along with the hummingbirds.  Assembling this feeder never gets any easier either.  But I’d rather face that than have winter here again.

A male Oriole has found the feeder too.  Can they smell the sugar in there?

I got flowers planted too about two weeks ago, so things are looking a lot like spring and summer at my house.  Now we just need the weather to cooperate.

The Orioles are back

Sunday was warm and windy here in the desert.  The humidity was sitting on seven percent, so you didn’t dare drag your feet across the carpet.  I’m glad we don’t have a lot of it.  No wonder my feet and hands are in such shape and I have snakeskin all over.

 Male oriole

Female Oriole

The orioles have returned to the yard.  I spent part of the day trying to get good pictures of them.  The other part I spent working in the yard.  As I ache all over now, the thought of getting a condo is sounding better to me than it once did.  Yard work beats you up.  I just don’t know if they make a condo big enough.  I have to have a place somewhere that I can escape to that’s quiet.

 Female oriole on feeder

 Look at this handsome fellow - Beautiful color

Anyway, back to the orioles.  We had three in the yard flying in the trees and taking turns at the hummingbird feeder.  For those of you who have orioles and don’t know it, these birds love the hummingbird feeder.  We tried Oriole nectar and orange slices and they wouldn’t touch it.  So fill up your hummingbird feeder and watch for them.  But be warned they can drain it in a couple of days.  I have a giant sized one now.

 A couple of sparrows enjoying the feeder

The Orioles will hang around all summer and then migrate in the late fall.  They don’t mind sharing the feeder with the hummers.  And, as you can see, even the finches and sparrows take a turn.  They’ve learned if they rock it back and forth, they can get the nectar out.