Another photo of my hummingbird...

Not exactly a dissertation… but here’s some of what I’ve learned about hummingbirds:

These little creatures are the smallest birds in the world. Where I live in San Diego the hummingbird that has a nest in my yard is probably the same one that has been here all along... even last year.  Hummingbirds that appear in the middle of the country in springtime may have spent the winter in Mexico and the migration may have involved a 500-mile flight across the Gulf of Mexico. The hummingbird that shows up somewhere in Ohio may have been there last year.  They often migrate back to the same area, even to the same yards and fields of flowers.  Keeping a hummingbird in a cage will kill it.  It needs to be free to fly and feed.  A hummingbird will usually visit every day somewhere between a couple of hundred flowers up to as many as a thousand, depending on the amount of nectar in the flowers.  Just to be sure my little bird and any other freeloaders are hungry, I keep my feeder filled… so do some of my neighbors.  

My search for information on the WEB is encouraging… Nobody knows how many  hummingbirds exist, but it’s estimated that there are hundreds of millions of them.  They are found only in North, Central and South America.  They can live between three and five years.  Oh, almost forgot to mention…  They can hover, fly forward, backward, right side up and upside down.  They flap their wings 20 to 80 times a second. 

We have cats in the neighborhood, but my little mother has built her nest completely out of reach of prowling animals. I’m keeping an eye out for hazards.  She is a miracle right outside my window.

This is the second cat that lives upstairs in our building.  My friend Mary Beth tells me it is a rag doll cat... the same as the one in the picture from last week... the one that looked a bit like a raccoon.  These are house cats... never get out to wander around the neighborhood; so my little flying friend isn't in danger from them. 

Strange clouds over San Diego today...