Project Hummingbird
I’m making an effort to find fun and interesting things to do this summer, so that Lucas will be entertained in between all the baby naps, diaper changes, and nursing sessions. (For the most part, Lucas is patient with the amount of time it takes to care for Asher, so that’s good. He’s gotten into the habit of lowering his voice when Asher is sleeping and playing quietly in the other room. He still comes in to whisper at me a lot, but hey–at least he whispers.)
This morning I saw a hummingbird visit our yard. They do so fairly often, probably because we have a lot of flowers. This particular hummingbird visited the red plastic rim of Lucas’s basketball hoop. It gave me an idea.
We packed up our stuff and went to the Wild Birds and Gardens (http://www.wildbirdsandgardens.com/index.html) shop at Madison and Sunrise (I think Kimkimkaree used to work there at one time). We announced our intetion of buying a bird feeder and were soon set up with a feeder, nectar mix, and a recipe for making our own nectar later on. We came home and Lucas cleaned our new feeder with sudsy water. We mixed up the nectar, filled the feeder, and hung it on our tree in the backyard. It was fun. I’m hopeful that the birds will visit and find the feeder soon. It seems likely. I told the store lady that we needed the kind of bird watching that was going to be super rewarding, otherwise the five-year-old would give up on it. She said a hummingbird feeder was the way to go for beginners.
June 25, 2007 at 4:14 pm
I have heard, but not verified, that if you get rid of the hummingbird feeder some of the local birds may die. Something about not going out to look for other food because the really good stuff used to be RIGHT HERE AND WHERE IS IT NOW?!!?
I have also heard that having two or more small feeders is better than one larger one – because these little fellas are territorial.
Regardless the voracity of these two claims – YAY! Sacramento has a ton of really awesome hummingbirds. Good call.
June 25, 2007 at 4:43 pm
What a great idea! We don’t have a hummingbird feeder yet, but we do have a regular feeder that we try to keep filled with birdseed, and I love to see all of the different birds that come to feed, and the ensuing turf battles. That might be something fun, getting a bird book and trying to identify the different species. And trying to keep the squirrels out of the birdseed is an entire project unto itself.