FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] WillieBoy Day 6

["Tommy Curtis" <tcbirdwatch@xxxxxxxxxx>]

WillieBoy was so late coming to the feeder this morning that we at first 
thought he had heard the weather forecast for the next several days and decided 
it was worth flying south at night!  More likely he wasn't in a hurry because 
the temperature is above freezing today.  He was about 10 minutes later than 
normal and our anxiety level had begun to climb before he appeared.  But that 
first flash of green and rufous under the lights changed anxiety to laughter.  
Adding to the pleasure of seeing him was the full moon still bright in the 
background and it was a Hallmark moment.  He was more cautious than normal as 
the wind had the feeder moving around and the motion apparently was upsetting 
him.  But after a couple of quick visits, he finally settled down and drank for 
almost 2 minutes.  Usually he feeds every 15 minutes or so in the morning and 
then in the afternoon the time between visits stretches out to 30 minutes or 
more.  
We hope he will stay around for the DeKalb County CBC on December 26th when he 
would become the second recorded Rufous Hummingbird and join Willie on the 
list.  But he will have to find a really good sleeping place with the 
predictions of low teens at night and daytime highs barely above freezing for 
the next few days.  We have a heat lamp and a spot light on the feeder now but 
I'm replacing the spot light with another heat lamp today to be sure the sugar 
water doesn't freeze during this frigid weather.  I'm thankful God gave little 
hummingbirds such great survival skills and lets us be a part of helping them.

Tommy and Virginia Curtis
Smithville, TN
DeKalb County
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