Good morning VAbirders,
The dim but growing light of 5:30 this morning revealed Petunia, our female
hum, leisurely sipping her morning nectar at her favorite feeder. I savour
these quiet moments with her for I know that I'll not see much of her the
rest of the day. Typically this time of the season she's secreted in the
woods behind our house and her feeder and flower visits are few and very
brief. Last Friday that changed temporarily when an intruder showed
up. An adult male hum entered her domain and it riled her no end! She
spent the day cursing him, dive-bombing him, and even body-slamming him to
deliver her "get lost buddy" message in ALL CAPS. I guess he got her drift
because we haven't seen hide nor feather of him since. Our feisty Petunia
has settled back into her stealth mode.
Baby woodpeckers of all shapes and sizes abound here. We've seen at least
one of each of Pileated, Flicker, Hairy, and Downy babies and hope to see
Red-bellied babies soon. Pop Downy woodpecker seemed particularly frazzled
as he and two of his kids sat on one of our suet feeders. Stabbing a piece
of suet he would then shove it down a begging baby's throat, back and forth
between the suet and a baby's wide open mouth, back and forth, back and
forth. A newcomer joined the line up, started fussing at Pop, and then
opened its mouth expectantly. Robotically, Pop shoved a few pieces of suet
into the newcomer's mouth until Pop stopped and did a double take. A
mega-baby! A Hairy baby had adopted Pop Downy hoping for free eats, but
Pop Downy would have none of that! Off he flew, his own kids in hot
pursuit, while the Hairy baby remained on the suet feeder looking bewildered.
This morning's dawn chorus brought a welcome surprise to my hungry ears. A
Wood Thrush's beautiful song poured through the window and I hung onto
every lilting note. Never before have I heard that song in our June
garden. Oh lucky day!
Lori Markoff
Vienna
Fairfax County
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