Hummingbirds and flowers

pink azaelea at shoresidefarmhouse.blogspot.com

Warmth has genuinely arrived. It has been a terribly miserable spring. Not a lot of rain, as a matter of fact the agricultural reports state that our count so far this year is five inches below normal rainfall, but there has been cloud cover and the resulting coolness for most of this spring. In the last ten days or so things have changed. Spring bloom has come forth and it is delightful to enjoy the colors. It lifts my soul...though that could use a bit more lifting! One of my neighbors has a spectacular red double Camellia, with shiny leathery green leaves. I am so desirous of the beautiful bush, just a drive by brings a smile to my face. There are Irises everywhere. Innumerable combinations of color, as only Irises offer. Dark purple velvet bottom petals, crowned by pale violet silken looking upper petals and a bright yellow center veined with maroon; white Irises with bright yellow centers, and light yellow lower petals...or soft apricot ones glowing in the sun.  More color combinations than one could even conceive, just line the roadsides. The azaleas have opened and there are some spectacular shows of purple, red, white and shades of pink. Our house has a row of about four coral colored azaleas, and that has attracted some more hummers to our garden. I see them flitting from flower to flower gathering nectar.

The hummingbirds are just so entertaining. It is like having a pet, but better.  You never have to clean up after them, except the feeder, and you only have to feed them every couple of days. My count of hummingbird visitors is up to five hummers at the feeder at once, so that is the minimum number of  clients we have visiting. There could be more, I am not sure. I witnessed five of them there at the same time yesterday, two females and three males. I would swear that I have birds that returned here after spending the summer with us last year. Two of them look just like my two most frequent visitors last year. The others could be their off spring. I just don't know. It is surprising when you get up close and personal, they do have defining characteristics....if you can observe them quickly. Over the last couple of days I have had quite a few close encounters, as close as six inches away, face to face. They now realize that I am the source of the meals that they get at the feeder, and many of them have lost much of their fear of me because they seem to recognize their source. An impatient one came right up for a drink while I was organizing the feeders. At first it backed off, but then he approached again when he realized I was caring for the feeders. I thought he was going to land right on my hands. They do have personalities of sorts, some are braver than others, and some much more fearful. Observation of those differences are a pleasure.  Such a small effort for such a great stress relieving activity. A blessing!