Anna's Hummingbird

Las Pilitas Nursery

Hotlips Salvia

The Anna's Hummingbird dropped in on me as I watered the autumn blooming Hotlips Salvia as if to ask me, "What is your business here? This is mine." She is possessive about her favorite red flowers. As she tilted her wee body slightly in the last of the day's sunlight (it was already past 6 pm), her gorget, or throat patch, glowed a delicious raspberry hue nearly matching the red of the many blossoms luring her. She whirred only inches from my eyes as I stooped with my waterhose in the superfast way they have of flying in place (an optical oxymoron? Can you physicists explain it?). How are they in frenetic motion and also stationery? Annas ruffled out her skirt out and stared at me from her grey eyes over her long, needle-thin beak . If you can hold yourself still, they keep on flower feeding right in front of your nose. These tiny birds have no time in their schedules to waste and must fuel their quick metabolisms: They require a few times their body weight in nectar daily. BzrrrrrrrrWhrrrrrrrr drum the mighty wings. And when she is done she streaks across the sky in an arc and is up and over the next houses and across the street in about two winks. She is not cowed at all by your size and will take brief and keen interest in your hat if it's red, orange, or some other bright color attractive to her. She will let anyone in her domain know if they are infringing on what is hers, her mapped and crucial nectar spots. This magical and tiny bird is a delight in the garden. I don't have to venture very far to encounter her here winter, spring, summer or fall. Have you ever noticed the energy hummingbirds exert defending a feeder that isn't even hung up but they have recently visited? Indeed, she is a diligent, boldhearted, astonishing bird.