Hummers

Here is a photo of one of our black chin hummingbirds.

We have at least four male black chin hummers coming in to the feeders every evening.  They are very difficult to count as they are zooming and fussing and chasing each other.  On top of that, we also get several orioles coming in to feed as the sun is going down.  Totally flusters the hummers who try to intimidate the orioles with fancy helicopter maneuvers like zooming in underneath the feeder and then going straight up to pop in the faces of the orioles.  The orioles are NOT afraid:)  

Sometimes I sing the theme for Star Wars.  Duh duh duhhh dunt.  Duh duh dunt,  Duh duh duh, duntelly duuuuhhh.  They are so dramatic and definitely each one is fighting the battle to be king of the feeders.

Their wings make a buzz noise as they zoom through the yard.  I told Hubby last night as he was going out the front door to be careful.  The hummers are chasing one another over the top of the house and you might end up with one of them stuck into your face with its long pointy needle like beak!  I swear, a couple of times I was worried they would poke my eye out.

They move so fast sometimes my slow eyes don't even see them.  All I hear is the high pitched buzz of the wings.  The guys who fly jet fighters for the Navy over in Fallon probably wish they had the speed and maneuverability of  a hummingbird.

We also have at least one lady hummingbird around here.  The male shows off as she sits sort of low in a bush or on the fence.  The guy goes buzz, buzz, buzz rapidly in front of her, back and forth, back and forth, spooning his tail out as he tries to impress her.  He then zooms up at a bit of an angle, zooms around at the bottom and then zooms up the other way in an eliptical orbit.  He doesn't complete the circle but pauses at the top and zooms back down and up the other way.  Very impressive and if I was a girl hummer, I would want him!

More Spring Photos

Ads are appearing on this blog and I don't know why.  I am trying to figure that out.

The hardy geraniums are just starting to bloom.

The Purple Robe Locust is showing how it got it's name.  We are counting on it to shade the breezeway and it is starting to be effective.  Three years old.

The Cottoneasters have cute little red flowers.  The bees are loving this plant.

Wow!  This pie cherry is covered in blossoms this year.  

This Mountain Ash is two years old and has flowers at the end of each branch.  Hope it grows a lot this year.

I should look up the name on this one but I am going to say caryopterix.  Beautiful blue flowers that the hummingbirds love.

Our first strawberry of the year and, boy, was it tasty!

Spring Has Sprung

Nice for the last several days.  Well, above freezing in the forties or low fifties overnight and in the sixties and low seventies during the day.

I know, where are the photos?  I will have some up over the weekend.

The hummingbird has shown up although last year we had several by the end of May.  One of the orioles is back to steal from the sugar water feeder, as well.  Hummer season is May 1st through Labor Day weekend.  You are supposed to pull the feeders after Labor Day so the little goobers will fly south when they are supposed to.

Hubby and I got the compost mountain spread over the new North Veggie Garden section.  Hubby then rototilled it all in.  Let the melons begin officially on May 15th.  The whole areas is bone dry so I am watering the veggie garden to try to keep that compost decaying into the dirt.

The peas are coming up and so are the rads and the beets.  The finger potatoes are starting to come up but the German butter and Red Sotos are still trying to reach the sunlight.  The row filled in, as usual, when we had a couple of windy days so they are planted deeper than I like to start them but since that happens almost every year, I am pretty sure we will have plenty of potatoes.

The onions and garlic are growing like gang busters but the carrots are having a hard time.  Need to start some more, I think.

The irises are starting to bloom with the standard purple ones coming on first and now the yellow ones.  Wonder who will be next of the irises to bloom.  Easy to care for and pretty.  I have quite a few irises in the yard.


We took little Wiseguy out carting for the first time yesterday.  He did great and tried really hard.  The street is dirt and it goes a little more uphill than I thought.  It also has quite a bit of sand on it this year.  The little guy had a bit of a hard time pulling me so we definitely walked up the hill and through the sand.  We went maybe half a mile up and half a mile back.  Next time we will be sure to go the easier route so he can trot more.  He likes trotting.