THANKFUL FRIDAY

Every time we camped in Colorado, I would set out our hummingbird feeder. There were times when I would be stepping out the camper door with the feeder in my hands and I would be swarmed by hummingbirds. They had no fear of me as they perched on the feeder I was holding. I would spend hours watching them buzz in and out of our campsite. If there are magical creatures, the hummingbird must be on that list. They truly are a marvel of evolutionary design and I don’t think I will ever grow weary of watching them, but they are migratory. They chase the warmth of the sun, a need I can respect and desire for myself and have been known to travel over 3,000 miles in their migrations. Every night, hummingbirds slow their metabolism down as a way of saving energy and enter a state known as torpor, a hibernation state of deep sleep. They often use spider webbing and lichens to build nests. They sleep in beds made of spider silk. And that sounds like a magical fairytale all by itself.

I took my hummingbird feeder down this week. It has been days since I have seen a hummingbird. For a while there, I had three of them fighting over my feeder. They were my favorite things to watch. One would perch on the cable line and keep watch. When another bird would fly near the feeder, the one hanging out on the line would zip down and off they’d go. Like fighter jets zipping around in the air. In the quiet moments, when they were not arguing over who gets to eat, you would have the privilege of watching one of the hummingbirds hover by the feeder, taking tentative slurps from the sugar water. Sometimes they would get comfortable enough to perch at the feeder. In the evening, the sun reaches a level where it shines directly from the West into our yard. It can be blinding, but this is my favorite time of day to watch the hummingbirds. Their wings are almost translucent as they filter the light.

My hummingbirds are not as bold or brave as the hummingbirds I have met in Colorado. They are tentative as they approach the feeder and any sudden moves sends them darting off. In order for me to watch them, I have to sit very still. I have to be still to watch their wings beating at a rate of eighty eight per second. It seems almost comical to me that this fast tiny bird creates stillness within me and I will miss them through the winter months. But, oh the gift of joy that I receive when they return in the Spring. I am building my own nest of spider silk to tuck these memories into so that I may hold them close as the days grow darker and colder.

Today I am grateful for spider silk nests.

THANKFUL FRIDAY

Found

9 Likes, 0 Comments - Cindy Maddera (@elephant_soap) on Instagram: "Found"

The other day, I went out to the backyard to pull some tomatoes from the vine when a hummingbird flew right up to me. He hovered right in front of my face for a few seconds and then flew up to perch on a wire above my head. He sat there long enough for me to think about running inside and grabbing my camera. Except I knew that by the time it took me to swap lenses and get my act together, that tiny bird would be gone. So instead of rushing inside, I stood very still and watched. One heartbeat. Two heartbeats. Three heartbeats. Four heartbeats. Then the hummingbird flew up and over the roof of our house and was gone from sight. We don’t see hummingbirds all too often around here. I’m sure if I put out a feeder, we would see more of them but for some reason I never get around to hanging one up. Hummingbirds fall into my fantastical category. I feel like such a tiny bird that moves so quickly and travels great distances must be a mythical creature.

Like the moose.

The yin and yang of this whole scene did not go unnoticed. There is this busy buzzy movement of the hummingbird juxtaposed with the stillness of watching and observing. Then there was that brief moment when we were both still. Seconds. That is all it takes sometimes to have a moment for all the other outside noises to fall away and for you to feel some peacefulness. This is a phenomenon I often experience when I take short walks. Those moments are not as spontaneous as my encounter with the hummingbird. I usually step out with the intention of paying close attention to my surroundings. I am purposeful in looking for the interesting or the unusual that could be tucked in just around that corner over there. It is this practice that has made me a better photographer. It is this practice that helps stay calm and focused. It is this practice that helps me to notice the spontaneous moments of zen.

I am thankful.

LOVE THURSDAY

Rainbow without the rain

elephant_soap's photo on Instagram

"Are hummingbirds real?" the Cabbage asked me. I looked at her like she was crazy and replied "Of course they're real!". Then it dawned on me that she's never seen a real live hummingbird. Also, recently we had been reading Uni the Unicorn and she asked if unicorns were real. Not wanting to say no to the idea of unicorns not being a thing, I told her about narwhals and how I thought that unicorns evolved into narwhals. Then I had to explain evolving to a four year old and things got complicated because of my science brain. But any way....the kid has only seen hummingbirds on TV which is something we're going to have to fix next summer.

I remember every summer putting out a hummingbird feeder at the old house. You'd see one occasionally, but not often. Mom always kept at least two feeders in the camp trailer and every Colorado trip we'd put out those feeders along with some we'd make from soda cans for the swarms of hummingbirds. No kidding. I mean swarms. I can remember carefully walking out of the camper carrying two very full hummingbird feeders and before the door would close behind me, I'd have hummingbirds at the feeders that I was still holding. They were eating out of my hand. The last camper Mom and Dad owned, the dinette was situated at the back end of the camper with a window that took up most of the end wall. There was ladder there that lead to the camper roof and I'd always hang a feeder on one of the rungs. We'd sit at the table for hours watching the hummingbirds fight over the feeder.

They really are remarkable birds and there are over 300 different kinds of hummingbirds. They are only found in the Western Hemisphere ranging from southeastern Alaska to southern Chile. I have always been fascinated by how they never seem to stop moving, flapping their tiny delicate wings about 80 times a second. In fact, I vaguely remember someone telling me that hummingbirds are always in constant motion. Probably Dad told me that. Aren't we all kind of like hummingbirds zipping from this to that? There's always someplace to go to or something needing to be done. 

One day while watching the hummingbirds chase each other away from the feeder I noticed a small green hummingbird resting on one of the ladder rungs. He was just calmly sitting there very still. When one hummingbird would chase away another bird from the feeder, thus freeing up the feeder, this little guy would zip up to the feeder, take a few sips and then come back to his perch. It was the first time I'd ever seen a hummingbird perch. Even a hummingbird needs to sit still at times. Even a hummingbird recognizes the benefits in waiting patiently. 

Happy Love Thursday.