Hummingbird heaven

Yesterday wasn’t a good day for HH and for that reason, doesn’t merit a photo (well actually, I didn’t get around to it). We had intended to head for the hills after gym and picking up some fruit and veg from the market, but he spent the whole morning looking for papers – which luckily turned up pretty near the surface, but heavily disguised. Then when we finally got up here, we found we had left an essential Sky cable behind, so couldn’t watch the games. Much worse – his laptop refused to turn on and he has tax returns to hand in by Monday.

On the way to Teresopolis, we took both cats for examination and tests at the Veterinary school – a quarter of the price that it would be in Rio, and I was very impressed with the young vet. Nothing too much wrong with them except old age, a factor we have in common.

So today we spent the morning in town sorting the computer out – could have been much worse, it was just the generic power source that had died, while the laptop’s own battery had given up the ghost some time ago. That sorted, lunchtime coincided with passing the golf club, so we went in for a meal and watched Portugal and Ghana put in their farewell performances.
Home to a rapturous welcome from the dogs, and I went straight out again to walk them. This involves me driving for the first kilometer, with them barking fiercely at other dogs safely behind fences and generally startling the natives. Then I park the car and we all continue on foot. It was the most beautiful afternoon and I have never seen so many hummingbirds. The cherry trees are bloom and each of them had squadrons of hummingbirds alternately feeding and fighting. You’d think there would be enough for everyone, but they are fiercely territorial.

Further up the road, eight or more hummingbirds were battling over a tree I haven’t yet identified, which has large, beautiful clusters of pink flowers hanging below the leaves. I spent ages trying to get a decent shot, particularly of one I’ve never seen before, with a reddish chest and emerald back, which obligingly stayed quite still for long periods – but I couldn’t get a decent angle through the branches, and anyway only had the small camera, which is as slow as treacle, and the mobile, which ran out of charge. Then the two little chaps in the picture decided to pose really close by, but it was already dusk, so the shot is rubbish. I’m going to post it anyway, just to remind me of the pleasure I had watching them.