A Rare and Special Hummingbird Encounter

I have something very special to share today, from kestrel. I’ll let her tell the story,

The other day I was working near the scarlet runner beans when I saw a hummingbird behaving a little strangely.

You might think, “But that’s what hummingbirds do – drink from flowers!” And I would agree with you. The strange thing was, this hummingbird was behaving like this right next to me. I took these with my phone!

As I observed the hummingbird more closely (this is a Western Broad-Tailed Hummingbird, I believe a juvenile male) he seemed exhausted. He is in one of my pens for chickens. It’s got a net over the top, to keep predators out of my chickens, but hummingbirds can easily fly down through the net. Most are intelligent enough to then fly back UP through the net, but this one I suspected had been in there for quite a while, due to being young and silly, and not knowing about that flying up thing.

Yep. Looks pretty exhausted. So, I went in there, and was able to walk up to him and pick him up in my hand. I carried him out of the pen and took him over to the hummingbird feeder. He acted like a trained pet parrot; he stood perched quietly on my finger, and when I brought him to the feeder, he very calmly stepped onto the feeder like he had been doing that his whole life.

Once on the feeder, he sunk his beak in all the way and then drank for over a minute. No dainty sipping here; I think this guy was near the end of his reserves. I stood by the feeder to stop any other hummingbird from chasing him away, until he was able to fly away on his own. Fly well, little bird, and remember, “up” is a direction too!

Storks on the Hunt

Avalus is doing some fieldwork with his new camera and he’s spied this flock of storks. He tells me that they’ve been around for awhile and hints that we may see them again.

Wednesday Wings: Haven’t you grown?!!!

It’s been a while since I posted an update on our adorable Nile geese.

The first pics are from two weeks ago.

They have almost their parents’ colouring and size, only the heads are still darker. Sadly, 7 gosducklings turned into 4, but nature is a cruel place where often adorable baby birds turn into a fox’s next meal.

On Monday we met again, and one of them was just as interested in me, as I was in it.

There was no aggression in its behaviour, just pure curiosity in that strange creature with a box for a face.

Not an Ugly Duckling in Sight

The cygnets of Edinborough are growing quickly and Anne, Cranky Cat Lady’s daughter, Emily Davis, has sent us an update.

The cygnets are looking more swan-shaped, look at their long necks!

A Fledgling Comes to Visit

There’s a robin’s nest in the eaves over my front porch, and I haven’t got the heart to evict them. Instead, I provide them with a birdbath and a regular supply of mealworms. In return, they’re cheerful to have around and provide me with lots of pleasant chirping and peeping and poop. I could do without the poop, but it’s a package deal, so I try not to grumble about the mess. It cleans up quickly enough with the hose.

This morning I heard one of the young birds making a fuss, so I went to the door expecting to see one of the parents out hunting in the yard. Instead, I found this little fellow sitting on the arm of my wicker rocking chair, looking a bit dazed and confused about what to do next. I watched him for about 20 minutes from inside the house as he quietly looked all around, trying to process this new perspective on the world. He spread his wings a few times, and I could see he had his flight feathers but hadn’t quite figured out how to use them. His mama was watching over him from a nearby tree, so I shut the door and walked away from it, hoping that mama would feel safe enough to come to his aid. Over the next 2 hours, I checked on him from the window, and the only thing that happened was that he took a nap. That seemed like a good opportunity to sneak out the side door with my camera, and I took a few snapshots through the railing before leaving him to the care of his still hovering mama. The next time I went to the window to check on him, he was gone. Bye, Bye, Birdie. Thanks for cheering me up 0n day eleventy-seven of the pandemic.

More Adorable Fluffiness

Last week we saw this fuzzy clutch of cygnets all huddled together in the nest. Today we get to see them venture forth and go for a swim. Thanks to Anne, Cranky Cat Lady and her daughter Emily Davis for sharing them with us.

Adorable Balls of Fluff

These sweet floofy faces were photographed by Emily Davis, who is the daughter of Anne, Cranky Cat Lady.

Emily has been watching the swans at Holyrood Park during her daily bird walks. They’re nesting, and today she has pictures of fuzzy cygnets.

Beautiful Buntings

From Nightjar,

Just sharing a couple of cirl buntings I’ve been seeing regularly around here.

Wednesday Wings: Quackdate

I went back to see our baby Nile geese (f… you, English) and look how they’ve grown. And also how camouflage works.

Friday Feathers: Adorafluffballs

First of all, a happy first of May. We may not be out there protesting, but it’s even more important than ever to defend the rights of working people and the working class, as they’re currently, quite literally, sacrificed of the altar of profit.

Having said that, here’s some cute.

The Nile geese had chicks, or whatever you crazy Anglophones call them.

Wednesday Wings: a Eurasian Blackcap, or how Sexism is Just Plain Stupid

Because obviously half the bird population does not halve a black cap, just like most blackbirds are brown indeed.

But it’s a cute LBB (Little Brown Bird) and I was happy to take her picture.

Here a Chick, There a Chick…

Kestrel has sent us an extra-special bit of adorableness.

I raise quail – these are Japanese Coturnix quail. On Easter morning I woke up to this sight in my incubator:

After the main crush was out of the incubator, one little late-comer to the party hatched out right into my hand.

This was my Easter basket, but none of them ever turned into chocolate, or marshmallow.

Hanging out at the water cooler in their new digs. The marbles are to stop the tiny little things from drowning themselves. Like all little babies they can get themselves into all sorts of trouble. Most of them are underneath the brooder plate, that black and yellow thing to the right. The underside of it stays warm, about 100F, but that is just not hot enough to start a fire, so these are much safer than heat lamps. The other benefit of the brooder plate, besides safety, is that since it does not work by a light, it gets dark at night, allowing the chicks to sleep like they naturally would. With a heat lamp you have to keep that light on all the time.

Now they are one week old, and much bigger. They are even starting to get feathers, just like real grown-ups! The feeding frenzy is over very finely diced hard-boiled quail eggs, full of important nutrition

This is the one that hatched into my hand on that first day a week ago. (I can tell, because this one has two white toes.) They grow very fast! By the time they are 3 weeks old they will be ready to leave the brooder and won’t need any heat to survive. These quail will be fully mature by the time they are 6 to 8 weeks old, at which time they will start laying eggs of their own and the whole thing will start all over again.

Kites Arrived

And they sat on an old ash tree behind my house.

But taking pictures through a closed window at an angle, near noon and to the south-east of me is difficult. I cannot open the window due to the overabundance of bonsai trees and if I tried to go outside and get them from a better angle, they surely would flee.

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A Rare and Special Hummingbird Encounter

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Storks on the Hunt

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Wednesday Wings: Haven’t you grown?!!!

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Not an Ugly Duckling in Sight

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A Fledgling Comes to Visit

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More Adorable Fluffiness

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Adorable Balls of Fluff

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Beautiful Buntings

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Wednesday Wings: Quackdate

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Friday Feathers: Adorafluffballs

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Wednesday Wings: a Eurasian Blackcap, or how Sexism is Just Plain Stupid

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Here a Chick, There a Chick…

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Kites Arrived

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