[EBB Sightings] Huckleberry Hummingbirds

   I had the most amazing experience yesterday.
Dashing back to my car to drop off my jacket (here in
the Bay Area, we tend to dress for yesterdays weather,
assuming a constancy of climate that is seldom borne
out by the facts), my eye and ear were caught by the
buzz and zip of hummingbirds. I paused at the
shrub-lined path entrance. 

Very close by was a ?female? Selasphorus, not a lick
of orange at her throat, who appeared to be gleaning
insects. Aha! I thought, more evidence of nesting. I
watched more closely, but didn?t actually see it pick
anything up. Then I saw the bird attempt to ?drink?
from the red tip of a growing live oak branch. Wait a
minute, this isn?t an adult, this is a fledgling
hummingbird! 

It was so close, my binocs were useless, but my eyes
took in the scene just fine. By trial and error, the
little hummer eventually stuck his beak into a morning
glory flower, and zipped away. But the sweet
reinforcement quickly kicked in and back he came to
try another! Full of youthful exuberance, he then
zipped to the top of a shrub and did an abbreviated
shallow u flight display (I assume that it is only the
males that do this, and that it is hard-wired from
hatching). 

Then back he came, to perch close by and gaze upon me
with curiousity, not aggression (a welcome change from
the rest of the spring-crazed, testosterone-poisoned
birds here). Meanwhile, Mom returned, and was not
happy about the state of affairs. Junior was happily
oblivious, but Mom knew better, so she lured him away
from the potential danger represented by yours truly.

But like all spirited kids, Jr. was having none of it,
and soon zipped back to where I was standing, and
attempted to drink from a dead leaf! This was all just
too cute for words. It sure felt like a gift, and I
have to admit that I got a bit choked up over the
whole thing. To literally watch this tiny bird learn,
and to be welcomed into his world was a rare and
precious gift, in a place sacred to me, where the
gifts often come fast and furious.

Thank God for these refuges for our avian neighbors,
and our human spirits.

Debbie Viess