C Hummer keeps watch in his yard in Las Vegas – and keeps me amused.

                I don’t see C Hummer on his chair back under the hummingbird feeder very often any more. With the advent of warmer weather he has moved into the bushes around my home where he can watch for insects. That doesn’t mean he isn’t aware of my every move though. Yesterday, when the weather was warm and dry, I walked toward my driveway. I hadn’t gotten much past the kitchen when C Hummer was hovering right in front of my face.

Flapping his wings to shake off the raindrops

                The light was perfect for showing his colors. I just stood in awe of his iridescent glory, but I finally I had to explain to him that I needed to move and he was blocking my path. With that he flew off into the Texas Sage.

                Later that day I had to fill the south-side feeder. This one, the favorite of finches and Verdins – as well as hummingbirds, has to be filled on a daily basis. Since it had some sweet water in it before dawn, when I normally check my feeders, I left it until later. By afternoon it was down to the last few drops. I took it off the hook and brought it to the kitchen to wash and fill. As I stood at the kitchen sink I looked up and saw C Hummer. He was hovering right in front of the window over the sink looking into the house. I feel certain he was watching me to see that I was filling the feeder properly!

Mrs. C Hummer, shaking off the rain

                When the rain came on Sunday January 11, 2015 and stayed all day, the birds got thoroughly soaked. I was out when the first raindrops came down. C Hummer was on the Lady Bank’s Rose that grow over a neighbor’s wall in front of my house. Every time a drop hit him, he flapped his wings to shake it off. Later, when the rain really started coming down, he was kept very busy shaking it off, as he stayed in the Bank’s Rose bush.

                Meanwhile on the north side, Mrs. C Hummer, a female Costa’s Hummingbird who has taken over the north-side feeder, kept her post on the bare branch next to that feeder. She had to constantly shake to throw off the raindrops too.

Note the rain on the chair

                As the day wore on and the rain continued, C Hummer decided it was time to move back to the patio where he could be under the roof. If he wasn’t on the back of the chair, he was on the wind chime.

Note the water on the wall

However, he wasn’t the only one who decided that was a good move. The finches found perches on the feeders and stayed awhile to dry off a bit before they went back to the seed sock.

finches keeping dry

                Even one very wet and bedraggled Mockingbird, who isn’t the least bit interested in the feed, came to rest on the back of another chair, seeking a respite from the wet of the day.

                At the time I write this, we have had between a third and a half inch of rain. For us here in Las Vegas, that is the most rain we have seen in months. The birds and I both hope that tomorrow will return to dry, sunny and warm. Not that I don’t like rain, but I moved to the desert for a reason, and that doesn’t include cold, dreary, gray, wet days. And I’m sure the Costa’s and Anna’s hummingbirds that chose to winter here didn’t stay for that kind of weather either.

Such a beautiful bird!