The King Reclaims His Throne

Zippy.  Back where he belongs.

I was so frightened for a couple of weeks because I really hadn't had a sighting of him.  I even told my neighbor Elaine that I feared something dreadful may have happened.  It is such a relief to see him coming back for his regular drinks. Such a relief to see him perching on his usual bent branch high in the ocotillo from where he scours the sky for incoming threats to his  territory.

It was nice  to have so many, and so many different species, of hummingbirds pass through during the past couple of weeks. Watching them dip and soar through the sky was amazing.  It was nice  to see hummers who actually flutter.  Costa's hummingbirds like Zippy don't flutter, they soar.  Huge  difference.

But I got no joy out of it.   I got no joy out of it because I missed Zippy.  He wasn't a part of it.  I didn't see him and the rest didn't matter to me.  It was as if I was mourning a loss and I missed seeing the beauty displayed in front of me.

There will be a day he no longer comes to my feeder.I don't know how old he was when he adopted my yard as his territory (the first week of Oct. will be the end of his second year) but I assume he was young because he didn't yet have one of his own.  He can live five years or maybe longer.  I am hoping I can help him have a nice long life and that we can share it together.  I don't want to have that feeling again for a long time.