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| What we normally see is more like a fluttering leaf, but it zigs left and right, up and down in the window to say, "Thanks for the food!" |
Going to the clinic, I described the aerial acrobatics I saw through the kitchen window.
Mrs. Ichabod said, "Why would he do that?"
I said, "He was thanking me for the food in the hummingbird feeder. Hummers always do that for humans. They are the bravest of all the birds. Or the most commercial."
In Phoenix they would hum around me to get my attention - and fly through the garden hose spray for an in-flight bath."
They have established a big industry just by rewarding us for filling plastic feeders with diluted sugar water. Unfortunately, I poured myself a glass from the fridge, thinking it was cold cranberry juice. But the magic solution was more like watered-down cherry Kool-Aid. Come to think of it, I started humming a lot that day.
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| Ann Geddes photo |
We are now at the apex of the summer garden. The late bloomers opened up:
- Joe Pye
- Clethra
- Crepe Myrtle
adding their attraction to
- Cat Mint
- Mountain Mint
- Bee Balm
- Borage
- Comfrey
- Yarrow
- Buckwheat
- Roses
- Hosta
- Daisies
- Blackberries
- Poke Berries
- Wild Strawberries
- Beauty Berries
- Trumpet vine
- Butterfly Weed
- Swamp Milkweed
- Balloon flowers
Notice that, apart from some wild berries, the food was planted, tended, and watered to generate this supermarket for birds and bees.
I wonder how all the insects keep up with the bounty. I see three sizes of bees at once on the same Joe Pye bloom - big bumble bees, honey bees, and hover flies that look like bees. I think Ichneumon tiny wasps are there, but I do not put my nose on the flower just to verify the insect.
Do they have time for the Borage?
My guess is that we draw from a larger area now. Almost Eden has many types of plants, but a lot of grassy field. The woods harbor a lot more insects than food, so we are the cafeteria for all creatures great and small. Our neighbor's daughter said, "The rabbits don't even budge when I get near!"
Our front porch is the best theater in the area for flying and walking animals. When the Military Gardening Group convenes, everyone is looking at the wildlife. The Milkweed plants crowd the picket fence at our feet, so the bees are inches away. Watching a bee work and ignore us is more tranquilizing than any medicine - and much less expensive.
Our friend, the late Pastor Newman, was always complaining about the beavers on his property. They were creating dams where he did not want them. They were persistent and good at it.
Meanwhile, for decades we listened to China praise itself for the glorious Three Gorges Dam, 12 years in the building, a million people displaced. It would tame the Yangtze River! The dam was a money maker and now is falling apart, according to live feed observations and a blanket of secrecy hiding the facts.
