[TN-Bird] Our Rufous Hummingbird Is Gone
- From: "Tommy Curtis" <tcbirdwatch@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "TN-Bird Post" <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2014 08:23:23 -0600
Willie Three decided to head for his wintering grounds on Thursday afternoon.
We saw him feed at 3:00 and then Friday morning he didn’t show up at either of
the feeders. We kept looking for him all day but by afternoon had to accept
the fact that he was gone. We are a bit concerned that he left so late in the
afternoon but he had been eating so much this week he probably had energy
reserves to take him through the night wherever he stopped even if he did not
find a good food supply that day. We’re sad, of course, because he had become
such a part of our lives for the past 72 days and seeing him zoom into the
light early in the morning was always a great way to begin the day. Even after
hosting three of these beautiful little Rufous hummers in the past ten years we
still find it very difficult to not get emotionally attached and feel a real
loss when they leave. But rather than focus on the sense of loss when
something we care about leaves, we try to remember how blessed we were to enjoy
their presence for a while. Every relationship in human life eventually ends,
whether with people or birds, but the wonderful thing is the memories that do
not end. So as long as our brains function normally we’ll look out the kitchen
door or the living room window and smile as in our minds we still see a
beautiful little creature of flesh and feathers hovering over a feeder port
getting what he needed from us and giving us a kind of joy sweeter than the
sugar water he was drinking. Go with God, Willie Three, we’re so glad you came
to brighten our lives during these fall and winter days.
Tommy and Virginia Curtis
Smithville, TN
DeKalb County
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