"Don't wish me happiness I don't expect to be happy all the time....It's gotten beyond that somehow. Wish me courage and strength and a sense of humor. I will need them all." Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Wednesday 4 January 2017

Cold

It's been a few years now that the Anna's hummingbird has continued to be a daily visitor to my feeder during the winter months. These little birds are able to survive some cold weather because they eat insects and do not completely rely on flower nectar. This winter like last winter there are two female's and one male. (The picture for this post is a female.) In year's gone by I remember many freezing cold mornings when I would make certain that the feeder was unthawed and filled and than wait for the morning light pensively wondering if they were still alive. Slowly the light would creep into the northern sky and silhouette the maples in the yard and than they would arrive. In my excitement I would dance around the kitchen holding my baby daughter. These day's on these cold winter mornings I am still awed and I still marvel at how they stay warm enough to be alive all day in subzero temperature's (at least at ground level) and through the long, cold nights. (They are absent from the feeder from 4:45 p.m. to 7:45 a.m.) They have an amazing story of survival and in it I find courage.

Sent from my iPhone

5 comments:

  1. I have often wondered, too, how the birds survive some of the rigors of winter that we have here. We used to feed the birds but our neighbors have huge feeders out and enjoy it so much that we stopped because of their love of it.

    Blessings to you and your sweet daughter. Stay winter warm! xo Diana

    ReplyDelete
  2. I smiled at how you thawed out the feeder for them. You are Mother Nature!

    ReplyDelete
  3. As we drove past the almost frozen harbor the other day, wind whipped cold rain coming down from angle, I turned the heat in the car up...and like you...marveled at the geese, swans and ducks huddled together braving the elements. Like you, I was awed at their resilience. Nature...

    ReplyDelete
  4. I keep wondering at my Anna's hummers, why they stick around in the cold, but it's much warmer here than where you are! Just this morning I had a chat with one who was having breakfast at my feeder. Last week when I took it down briefly to refill it he came up to the window to tell me to be quick!

    ReplyDelete
  5. That's amazing that you still have Anna's hummingbird in the winter! I didn't know any of them stuck it out for the winter. I would be dancing in my kitchen too, for a sight of their precious faces at my feeder! Hugs to you today :)

    ReplyDelete