Faithful Visitor

As long as there will be a hummingbird feeder available, this hummer will visit us all year. Sweet little Anna's Hummingbird female thinks this is her very own feeder, and the "sweet" doesn't last long if her territory is invaded.

We have a new book on hummingbirds and we have found out that, "In France, in the early 1800's, there lived a nobleman by the name and title of Prince Francois Victor Massena who was intensely interested in natural history. One of his favorite hobbies was collecting specimens of birds and, in fact, in all of Europe he had one of the largest private collections of stuffed birds, many of which were hummingbirds gathered from North and South America. Francois's wife was the lovely Anna de Belle Massena. John James Audubon, whom the prince introduced to French society and from whom he bought a Birds of America portfolio, later commented in his writings on what a beautiful woman she was.

Therefore, it was fitting that Rene P. Lesson, another French naturalist living at the time, would name one of the hummingbirds in the prince's collection Anna's hummingbird, in honor of the prince's wife.

So now we know!!

A mixed bag day of brief sun breaks, overcast, and snow spitting occasionally from the sky. Nothing sticking to the ground at our location.....yet.