Hummingbirds--like me

Not content to stay in one place, hummingbirds are always going somewhere or doing something. I sit in front of my big picture window each day to write, but sometimes like today, I get distracted by the activity just outside my window.

Since we no longer have our outside dogs, the hummingbird feeder has become such a popular place that we decided to put up two feeders. Who would have known that our backyard would turn into a war zone for the little creatures?

(the new feeder, recently refilled)

They love the new feeder, by the way. They loved the old one, too, and guarded it from each other as best as they could. Now the new feeder is up, it, apparently is a novelty because the food disappears from it at twice the rate of the old one. They flit from one to the other, and then settle on the new one.

(The old feeder--still as full as we filled it a week ago)

I think that sometimes we are like hummingbirds—flitting from one important job to the other, always busy. We like new things much better than our old stuff, even though they are equally functional—and we guard our treasures as best as we can from interlopers who might happen by.

Like me, they are curious. More than once, a hummingbird has stopped drinking his nectar to peek into my window and observe what I’m doing—and more often than not, I’m busy watching the hummingbird watch me.

Hummingbirds also have their quiet, more giving nature. They will take a moment to sit on the wind chime, or the garden fence, or the power line to observe their surroundings and relax. I often appreciate the quiet moments of life in a similar way—one second at a time. Sometimes the little birds will also use these same resting points to wait their turn at the feeder. Occasionally, they realize that they can share, and several will drink from the feeder at the same time.

(One little guy waiting patiently for his turn)

It doesn’t take long, though, before peace is interrupted and they are back at play, racing through the backyard chasing one another doing aerial dives and acrobatics in their effort to win the game of “king (or queen) of the feeder.”

Yes, I think I am a lot like a hummingbird—now, if only I could fly.