The Winged Monkeys

Although it’s sometimes a pain to keep up, we absolutely love having a backyard.  While we certainly need a space for the dogs to romp around,* we really enjoy having a yard for gardening, relaxing, and watching the native wildlife.  Thankfully, we don’t get too many terrifying natural encounters within our walled yard, but we do see tons of lizards, bunnies, and birds.** 

CAN I COME VISIT?!?!?!

Of the birds, the hummingbirds are our favorite, and we’ve seemed to acquire a consistent set that like to come and visit us.  We keep a feeder stocked with sugar water, but right now, we have tons of blooming flowers to choose from as well – the pomegranate, lavender, Texas sage, oleander, and several other random (read: we don’t know what they are) bushes all generally have 2-3 hummingbirds swooping in and out of them at any point in time.  Our hummingbirds seem to be Costa’s hummingbirds, and lately, they’ve been demonstrating what seem to be the mating rituals known to the breed; the males will perform these long vocalizations and fly around in complex patterns right in front of one of the females, in an attempt to woo them.***

One of the ladies at our feeder.

These pics were taken last fall, hence the brown appearance of the plants.

There seems to be one male who dominates the feeder and very obviously considers the yard to be his.  Since he’s constantly draining the sugar water, he’s plumped up quite a bit, and thus has been named Chubby.  Here’s Chubby on the hook from which we hang the feeder.

Keeping an eye on his domain.

Sweet nectar-y goodness!

Chubby lets the ladies come and eat, but he doesn’t really tolerate other males in his area for very long.  Here he is, facing off against a much skinnier newcomer:

Hummingbirds are drawn to the color red (hence why most feeders are this color), so if you go outside for a moment and stand on the back porch while wearing a reddish shirt, you may get dive-bombed.  It’s kind of cool but also rather disconcerting.

Coming in hot!

One day, we let the feeder get a bit too low, and Chubby ventured inside the house while the screen door was open.  The chairs that sit at our dining nook are red, and he flitted right in to check them out for potential nectar.  As we both freaked out that the hummingbird was now inside the house, and thus subject to being swallowed by a dog, we only have mental pictures of this particular situation.

So, in a nutshell, we’re old people who like to watch the birds in our backyard.  That seems about right!

Later!

Amy

* And poop in.  Let’s be honest.

** The dogs tolerate the doves and sparrows in the yard, but if they see quail, they go absolutely bonkers.  We think it’s because Kaylee ate a baby quail one time, and she now knows that they taste delicious.

*** Woo is such a fun word.  Seriously, just say it.  Woooooo.