An ultra-awareness of the fragility of new life comes with the territory I trod in observing hummingbirds brought forth into the world via our property. But that doesn’t make it any easier whenever I’m taught the next in a continuing education of harsh lessons on that subject, such as the one today. I had concerns …
While doing some yardwork this past weekend I watched in amazement as our momma Anna’s hummingbird (see her at her nest in the backyard Victorian box tree feeding her two chicks) took a break away from her ever-demanding — and growing — babies by visiting the tabletop fountain I’d made a while ago (from an old …
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If it’s the end of February it must be time for my annual ode to the Star flower (Ipheion uniflorum), making its late February appearance in a patch under the wooden handrail off the front steps: Thanks to my friend David who identified this flower for me when I posted about it last year.
Well, as is readily evident in the clip of this morning’s feeding session, you can count me happily mistaken in my previous presumption that there was but one Anna’s hummingbird chick in the nest in our backyard Victorian Box tree. There is indeed, two and both look hungry and healthy. Yay! And just in case …
Just like the proverbial pot full of water that never boils, neither does a watched backyard hummingbird chick ever get fed. So I duct-taped the cam to my spotting scope’s eyepiece, hit record and left, coming back long after the memory card filled up and the camera shut down in hopes that while away it …
I juuuuust missed filming what happened before this footage, but a hint at what it was can be found in how high she’s now sitting in the nest — because she ALREADY has hatched chicks that I observed her feeding (up until this I was pretty sure there weren’t eggs yet in there, nevermind hatchlings). …
A fellow by the name of Joshua Siskin who writes a great greenery column for the Daily News solved a couple plant mysteries of mine last year. I accidentally stumbled upon an article of his last May detailing bear’s breeches (Acanthus mollis), which happens to grow in our front yard and which I’d spent years …