...Ho Hum(mie)

I'm really trying to see what the limit is for hummingbirds on my blipfoto. You see, I never get tired of them - never. And just when I think I've seen it all, they do something else that charms and captivates me. So, you'll just have to come along for the ride I guess.

Mr. P likes to perch in the weeping cherry tree next to our deck and defend "his" feeders from all interlopers. When I snapped this off, he appeared to be on full alert, eyes on the sky for any other hummers. Little did he know that there were at least 8 hummers within my sight at the time. Well, maybe it was all for show on his part. Anyway, I liked this shot because it is such a classic hummer pose and because you can see just a hint of his beautiful gorget. This is cropped but other wise SOOC. My other favorite P-Hummie shot today is on Flickr, here. It shows his gorget in full splendor and eye popping color.

While I was snapping shots of the hummers, the two Carolina Wrens showed up and treated me to a very interesting set of sounds - not their usual singing, but instead a rapid clicking noise. Here is one of them demonstrating his yodel.

While I was sitting out having my early this morning, a beautiful Giant Swallowtail showed up in the flower garden. And, in a first for me, it rested with wings full spread for several minutes, allowing me to get this shot of it's beautiful wings. Usually they constantly flutter making it extremely difficult to ever see the backs of their wings.

Finally, I took a 10 second video hand feeding one of the female hummers and posted it here on YouTube if you'd like to have a look. Love the video on the iPhone.

I watched part of the opening ceremony of the Olympics last night (we'd recorded it) but we were both too tired, so will watch the rest of it tonight. I thought the whole bit with the Industrial Age was really interesting. What an amazing amount of work!

Feels like I may be coming down with a bit of something - feeling tired and draggy, so perhaps I'll have a nap this afternoon and see if I can shake it. I'll be around later to check in on your journals. Hope you having a great Saturday!

Oh, and if you'd care to have a look at my blip on this day last year, it was one of my favorites, the Parsley Caterpillar. Sadly, none of the black swallowtails laid eggs on my parsley this year so I didn't get to see these fascinating creatures.

Post script: Tonight while we eating dinner on the deck, it started to rain And out of nowhere, about 20 hummingbirds converged on our feeders. i was able to get this 3o second video of part of the feeding frenzy on my iPhone. In it, 3 mature males all converge on the feeder at the same time - most unusual! Hummingbird Feeding Frenzy