This afternoon I wandered by to see how the baby hummingbirds were coming along.
What a marvel they are! The female posed daintily, as you can see. She hovered by my ear, sat on the handle of the basket I was carrying, and even stuck out her tongue at a gnat that flew past. Who even knew hummingbirds had long, slender tongues, silvery as the mercury in a thermometer and slim as a horsehair?
These are baby rufous hummingbirds, and hints of ruby and emerald are beginning to shine on their feathers. They are not a bit shy, zooming about our heads and chirping shrilly to let Steve and Katherine know it's time for another meal. When Steve brought out the syringe, the birds opened their beaks wide, as if he were their mother, and sat patiently until they were full and sleepy.
I spent most of the day cutting silhouettes of hummingbirds. Can you tell? I am enchanted by the little birds.
