A color plate illustration from Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur (1899), showing a variety of hummingbirds.
My season of hummingbirds is almost over. Tonight a pair of them flitted in and around the apple tree, the hazelnut tree (every nut gone to squirrels) -- very close to where I was standing. I've gotten pretty good at imitating their ratchety song, and they respond by drawing closer and settling-in on a branch, facing me. There is little in my garden to attract them this year, and yet they are daily present. I imagine that soon they will begin their aerial trek southward, and the humming of wings will lie dormant in memory.
How very lucky you are T. My daughter in Australia has a variety of parrots in her garden.... but they just eat all the fruit.
ReplyDeleteonly to return again next year T. Keep the faith!
ReplyDeletea beautiful illustration.
ReplyDeleteI love the lil' buggers: so pretty and sparkly. But they can be quite rude to one another, I've discovered. Oh well, aren't we all? Especially when it comes to FOOD.