Nature Photography, Hummingbirds
Meet “Buzz”
The Allen’s Hummingbird who rules the sunny side of the front yard
Buzz spends most of his day perched on a thin stem of the squat little palm tree in the front yard. From there he can see all the “happenings.” If anybody approaches the feeder on his side of the balcony, he is on high alert, ready to swoop in and strike terror into their little hearts.
He’s an Allen’s Hummingbird and he lives here, in my Southern California garden all-year round.
For most of the year, the hummingbirds in my yard have a somewhat peaceful existence. An orderly hierarchy exists, with the dominant males keeping things under control.
During the winter months, Buzz spends a lot of his day preening and making sure that those glorious feathers are arranged “just right.”
But then, as soon as summer hits, the tourists arrive, and chaos prevails for a few months. Those Rufous Hummingbirds travel all the way here from Mexico and they throw the whole system into disarray.
Then, Buzz has to really pay attention, or those little invaders just take over his feeder.
Buzz keeps us quite entertained with his antics. His feeder is just outside the french door off my office, so I see him come and go all day long, twittering and dive-bombing and keeping things under control as much as a little male hummingbird can.
If you enjoyed reading about Buzz, you might also like Eugenia’s story:
Or Big Red:
Or Einstein:
Dear readers, I am currently in Alaska, with pretty spotty internet, so please forgive me for being slow to respond to your comments. I’ll be home in a couple of days and I look forward to getting caught up with everybody.
Erika Burkhalter is a yogi, neurophilosopher, cat-mom, photographer, and lover of travel and nature, spreading her love and amazement for Mother Earth’s glories, one photo, poem or story at a time. (MS Neuropsychology, MA Yoga Studies).
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Photos and story ©Erika Burkhalter. All rights reserved.