Interfering with Nature
|December 9, 2013|
Hummingbirds are not supposed to stick around when the weather gets cold enough to freeze them out of the trees at night. Really not. But when there’s an endless source of high-calorie goo, they stay in the neighborhood, leaving the idiot who put the hanger up with the hard realization that the thing now has to be filled every day (yep, six cups, every day) or else the tiny bird-brains will drop from their perches at night. And if said idiot is thinking of going away for a few days..?
I’ve heard of cat-sitters, and plant-sitters, but hummingbird-sitters?
Posted in Personal
My goodness – I have never seen so many hummingbirds in one place! Clearly you’ve created a little paradise for them, Laurie, and now you have to live with the consequences!
Yup. Been there. Done that. When traveling, I used to have to leave bottles of hummer syrup in the fridge and loyal friends to stop by and put out clean, full feeders.
So last summer when there were food flowers all around I gradually withdrew, leaving longer and longer between refillings. Then took them away. I restarted late this fall only because I’m now too old and tired to go traveling. And I missed my little clowns. And it’s OK because I love my home and garden and I’m happy here.
PS I recently re-listened to The Game. One of the best.
Fantastic! And your birds are so much nicer than mine! We have one who zealously guards the feeder, sitting near it even in snowstorms to drive the others away. I’ve put 2 new feeders out on other sides of the house to give him a run for his money, but now I’m taking all 3 feeders in at night so they don’t freeze solid. I had read that this breed (the Anna’s Hummingbird) doesn’t actually migrate, so hadn’t even thought about what to do when I leave for two weeks next month. Guess I’m REALLY messing with nature, whoops! Perhaps, they can make do with the winter-blooming heathers growing in our garden… off to do some research!
Looks like you are going to have to stay home and care for your birdies.
In Maine when they migrate back, if the feeders aren’t up yet they bang the windows to let you know you’re not paying attention!
How wonderful! No hummingbirds in darkest Scotland but plenty of ravens chasing the robins…
Totally off subject – looking forward to the new editions of the missing Russells in the New Year – a complete, and matching set of 12. You simply MUST put a page up showing them all!
Chris
😉
This post made me smile. Such beautiful birds; it’s easy to see why you kept feeding them. Hope you find that hummingbird sitter.