A Male Broad-billed Hummingbird (Sabino Canyon) — Image by kenne
This little guy is not normally found here in the winter months. When spotted near the top of a mesquite tree, he didn’t seem to be bothered by our large group of nature walkers. Even so, I was reluctant to move around nearer to him for a better angle since others were enjoying the view.
Little hummingbird
So beautiful and wing-fast,
Come dart around me.
kenne
Hummingbird Images by kenne
— Paulo Coelho
Hummingbird Computer Art by kenne
— Emily Dickinson
Hummingbird — Image by kenne
— Amanda Leigh
Image by kenne
We humans focus too much on time, so much so that when a first grader was being told about daylight savings time and the way you remember whether it’s time to turn the clocks back or forward — think fall back in the Fall and spring forward in the Spring, she asked, “Who tells the birds to spring forward?” Of course the question, like most children’s questions provided for a teaching opportunity — birds don’t need clocks to tell them it’s time to get up or time to go to sleep.
And then there’s Arizona. The time zones across the United States all sprung forward today, but not Arizona. Like the birds, we follow nature’s clock — no spring forward and falling back for us. Since I come from generations of farmers, my wakeup time is earlier with the passing of each day – no sudden change to my body clock. As a result, I still hear the morning dove calls and see the return of the Western Screech Owl to roust under our entrance way. Life continues to change while staying the same.
Oh, if you live on the east coast, don’t be calling us at 8:00am, EDT!
kenne
Broad-billed Hummingbird in Sabino Canyon Recreation Area — Images by kenne
Sabino Canyon participates in the southern Arizona Hummingbird Monitoring Network. Volunteers trap, record and provide feeder assistance at monitoring stations in the Sabino Dam area. 2015 is the 14th year of the Hummingbird Monitoring Network’s multi-year investigation of the distribution, migration and diversity of hummingbirds. Information collected is used to assist in the preservation and protection of hummingbirds.
kenne
This hummingbird has already been banded.
Click on images to larger view.
