Encounter With A Hummingbird

Probably just a coincidence, but I had an interesting encounter with a Hummingbird this evening.

I was sitting on my rail fence enjoying the cooler than normal evening when a Hummingbird flew about two feet from my face and hovered. It zig-zagged a bit and then flew to the feeder pole where a Hummingbird feeder is normally hanging. I had taken it down due to the forecast high winds. The bird hovered a bit then flew to a nearby tree and landed. I figured the winds were gone so I put the feeder back in place. The bird immediately flew to the feeder and fed.

Coincidence, or did the bird tell me it wanted the feeder back???

It's training you.....

I just read something recently about *science* proving that hummers could count, so I suppose it's possible. They did it with a series of feeders. I will look for a link if I think of it.

I doubt the bird associates you with filling the feeder. I see them doing lots of dumb stuff now and I attribute it to their babies being young adults. :shrug:

I have had a few "encounters of the close kind" with some of my hummers. They have hoovered right in front of my face and maybe 12" away (it's hard to judge) and looked me square in the eye----and that sharp pointed beak paused that close to me seemed to change the size of the little fellow. It might have been caused by my red MAGA hat :march:

A similar encounter with a chickadee is burned into my memory. I was deer hunting, it was snowing, I climbed in under a big old hemlock tree for a little shelter and while sitting there and not moving a chickadee first perched on the barrel of my gun----seemingly completely unaware of my presence. Then he surprised me by flying up, landing on the bill of my cap, and then, like a gymnast, bent over the front edge, now upside down and looked me over intently for a few seconds before flying off.:bowdown:

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Not to take this off topic but I have had chickadees eat out of my hand. As often as I have looked at them and enjoyed their presence I never fully appreciated their scale until I had them sitting in my hand---their feet and legs are TINY. Their toes feel like pin pricks in your finger (not painful--just that localized in feeling). My Mother, who was a lover of all animals had chickadees that would come when she called them and land in her hands. She would put peanut butter in hanging boards that had drilled holes in them and when done call her chickadees and they would come and pick the peanut butter out from under her fingernails.

She also had pet chipmunks (yes, relatives of the ones who ate the Mercedes). She would go out on the back porch, sit down and call her "chippies". They would come running, jump up on her lap and wait to be fed their peanuts which were in the pocket of her apron.:clap: