birds, bees & flowers
It was a lovely Saturday – but very busy at my favorite place to hideaway – Butterfly World. And, oh! the Hummingbirds were busy, too. Well, maybe not too busy, because three of them stood so still, allowing me to click, click, click away at them as they perched so patiently.
At one point, one of the hummers, only as big as my thumb, got about four feet from me, balancing in mid air, his wings going 60 Mph! It was the Rufuos Hummer that honored me with that little show. I didn’t want to move a muscle for fear I’d startle him. Then, before I even thought to bring my camera up to shoot him, he was gone! But I found him again. He perched on a tiny branch and just sat there so patiently while I shot. He was at a bit of a distance, but I have a good zoom lens.
I was able to capture the variety of colors these hummingbirds wear depending upon how the sun hits them. The pigment in the feathers of a Hummingbird is unlike that of any other bird. The color we see in the hummer is a result of the pure pigment in their feathers.
So, depending upon how the sun hits the pigment, the color changes. You will be able to see this pretty clearly in the Rufuos hummer pictures – there are two bright orange dots on his breast that sometimes look black or green.
The hummingbirds you will see here are three different varieties: The Rufuos (the smallest of all), The Broad-Tailed hummer (with the purplish bib), and finally, I got a shot of a bigger than normal hummer – I forgot to notice his variety, but I know he is referred to as a Giant hummer, even though he’s still tiny, at about 4 inches.
I also have a series of pictures of bees on a passion flower. This flower is called: Passiflora Inspiration.
I don’t feel too much like writing about the Casey Anthony case today – I’m far too consumed in the wonders of these birds, bees, and flowers. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
only dreamin' 
Giant hummer-only 4″ tall…lol!
Love the pics!
I once had the wonderful experience of a hummer, an Annas, hover at my nose for a minute (felt alot longer than that,tho). I could feel the breeze of her wings! Then my cat came around the corner… >^.^<mew…bye-bye birdie!
LOL! There is just no one who can make me laugh out loud like you do, Sherry! That must have been heaven to have the little Annas so close! When I saw this little Rufuos, my camera was up and ready, but I was too frozen in place to take a picture!
>^.^< Love the kitty! 🙂
Beautiful Bird!!!! It’s a breath of fresh air!
Thank you Venice! I think so to…sometimes we need a little break from the case…I know I do.
Andrea, when I first noticed the title of your post on the front page of WP, I thought, “oh goody, Andrea is going to tell me the facts of life.” Oh, I love hummers and put a feeder out every spring. They are so tiny. I can’t even imagine how small their eggs are and the newborns must be some cute.
BTW, I am still waiting to find out how Pipitone got that dep.
LOL! I know! I almost left the title “Birds & Bees” for that reason, but decided not to leave the flowers out…..
it’s really so amazing how tiny they really are. The little Rufuos that I love is no bigger than my thumb. And you really have to spend time looking carefully in the trees or you’ll miss them. As tiny as they are, they have a bigger brain and a bigger heart than any other bird species!
I’m dying to know where that depo came from, too. In Dave’s article, he says it came from the courthouse….then, why was it not in public records? tis a mystery!
The depo of Dr. G. would be too important for the medias to ignore! And, since Pipitone found them, why haven’t the other medias jumped on them to be released by now? Hmmmm???
I wondered the same thing, Sherry! (Something is rotten in the state of Denmark!)
It could be out of courtesy that the other media outlets don’t want to cover it because it’s Pipitone’s story… ? I can’t quite figure it out and I say hmmmm, too!
Love the photos also. I keep wanting to make another trip to Butterfly World. It is such a serene and beautiful place. However, since it would need to be at least an overnight trip to make it worthwhile, I haven’t been able to work it into my schedule. If the upcoming zoo in Orlando runs into late June, I may try to escape to S FL for the weekend just for some peace.
Hi Susan! Oh I hope you treat yourself to a visit. It will do you good! If you let me know when you’re coming, I’d certainly meet you there to say hello! It’s going to be a mad-house down-town Orlando for the trial. I just read about one media outlet building what they call a “Casey Town” and I find that a bit repulsive… Perhaps to the media at large, this is all about Casey? It’s too bad; I hope they change their mind and use a different phrase to refer to what ever they’re going to build…. yuck!
I’m repulsed by that name for the town, too! 😡 Why not Caylee town? It IS about her, after all.
Absolutely, Sherry! If they’re going to name it anything, it should be Caylee. Frankly, I find the whole thing tasteless, shallow, and maddening. grrrrrr!