Meet Darth

Mark the day - the start of Deb's Summer Romance with the Hummingbirds.

And meet Darth Invader, the interloper to P-Hummie's domain. Both males were at the feeder this morning, tolerating each other in a very tentative "don't-make-eye-contact" sort of way... and by mid-afternoon the official hummer wars had started. Lots of angry chittering and buzzing of wings.

My hubs named this one, in case you are wondering. I asked him this morning what we should call the second male (since the first is, of course, P-Hummie) and without even a second's thought, he blurted out "Darth!" As in Darth Vader from Star Wars - the beak being Darth's sword. There you have it. So here is Darth, flaring his tale, fluffing his chest feathers and sticking his tongue out at P-Hummie. Mere seconds later, P had knocked Darth off his perch. Comeuppance! Ah, how I love summer!

I had a great 4-hour hike with the Audubon group this morning. Saw my first ever Worm-eating Warbler (that's actually the name of it) - way to fast for me to get a shot with my little camera. Also saw my first ever Eastern Water Snake - wowee!! And came across a spot deep in the woods with morel mushrooms growing wild! That was cool - and none of us picked any of them (although I am sure we all mentally marked the spot).

This afternoon hubs and I went to "pet expo" at the municipal fairgrounds and were treated to a guest speaker from the local zoo who had two tiny, adorable red fox kits to show everyone. They were orphaned and are being bottle-fed and raised at the zoo. Red fox kits are actually gray until they are about 12 weeks old, when then start getting their red coats. The two were so adorable - but stinky in that special way of foxes!

Thank you for your lovely comments on yesterday's Baltimore Oriole! Many of you commented on the striking color of the bird, and I want to assure you that they are just exactly that color in real life - an amazing bird. I also believe that he may have been the first of his kind in the Blip Big Year contest, so yay! It's getting harder to come up with "firsts" now. :)

It's Saturday night - hope you are all having a great weekend...

xxoo
Debbi