Hummingbirds

For years I have enjoyed sitting in my living room recliner watching God's creation out the front window. Cardinals, blue jays, gold finches, doves, robins, and other birds are frequent visitors to my observatory. Squirrels often appear in addition to the occasional rabbit, ground hog, and fox. Once a large flock of turkeys entered out front yard and journeyed around to leave via the back. At times butterflies have literally taken over the zinnia beds my wife sowed last year. How marvelous are the wonders our God has placed in our world! Mother Nature, you are truly incredible.

A special addition to our viewing pleasure in 2020 has been the hummingbird feeder we installed on an eight-foot pool. It stands proudly a few feet outside the window...right in the middle of the flower bed. It has attracted lots of ants, as many as five wasps at a time, and its namesake, the hummingbird. Until today these generally arrived one at time. Carefully avoiding the insects, they drank their fill from the white feeder cups sometimes perched on one of the eight yellow plastic bars made for that purpose. They can hover with wings a blur or rest for moments at a time. The sugar water must be a really attractive nectar to the hummingbird palate.

Today the story seemed to change. All of a sudden two and then quickly three birds could be seen darting around the feeder. For over an hour we watched as they performed for our pleasure. How to describe them...they flew, frolicked, played, fluttered, capered, cavorted, disported, frisked, gamboled larked, rollicked, romped, sported, bounded, hopped, leaped, loped, skipped, sprang, tripped, tumbled, curvetted, danced, pranced, caroused, reveled, roistered, carried on, fooled around, horsed around, clowned, cut up, joyrode, roughhoused, skylarked, kited, cut capers, kicked up their heels (or wings), dallied, recreated, skylarked, toyed, and generally delighted us with their antics. They could adequately be described as participants in a World War I dogfight among biplanes with out the crashes and bloodshed.

Our 2020 hummingbird feeder!

We only had three. We have seen friends with multiple feeders that attracted many more...seemingly hundreds. Certainly they were too numerous to count as they flittered around mischievously. Thank you, Lord, for your magnificent creation.