[Birdtalk] Hummingbird naivety

[John Morgan]

After a long slow beginning to the Hummingbird season that takes place around my feeder, it has finally (OK, well, a month ago) become the adopted home for at least two Black-Chinned's. They put on a nice show mornings (10' away from my breakfast spot on the deck) and evenings. In the calm of the morning and evening, they can be seen chasing gnats in/around/through the nearby trees....that is, when they're not chasing each other ;)

It's one thing to read about their daily menu from Sibley's, yet in the naivety of growing up believing Hummingbirds only survive by drinking nectar from flowers, it's quite another thing to see them parked on their favorite branch, scanning the sky for their favorite bugs....then to attack with the ferocity of a Peregrine, and miss...miss...miss....gotcha! Quite comical, really.

I distinctly remember thinking, "Oh yeah...duh...where's a Hummer going to find flowers all summer long, er, well, all year long? And what about migration?

So, though the beak is perfectly designed for sipping sugar water from a plastic balloon with fake flowers on it, it seems much less practical as a gnat-catcher. Compensated for by virtue of brilliant aerodynamic speed, quickness and agility.

Great watching. Continues to hold true that some of my best bird watching has been from my own back door. Every morning groups of Canada Geese get off the golf course and strafe my breakfast spot with their squeaky wingbeats. Got to oil those shoulder sockets! Fall must be coming soon.
John
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