who would have thought? August 14, 2007
Posted by Sandy in a small garden in maine, nature.trackback
My hummingbird feeder hangs in the garden on one of those wrought iron crook poles. I thought it would be nice to decorate it a little, so I planted a heavenly blue morning glory at the bottom of the pole. This past weekend the vine got to the top of the crook. The hummers hadn’t been paying attention to it at all. But, on Sunday, I noticed they were boycotting the feeder. I could see a couple of them sitting on a dead branch in the pine tree, just this side of the garden. One or the other would occasionally take off and fly a reconnaissance flight over the pole. First I thought a cat might be around, but after several hours, I figured out that it was just the morning glory leaves flapping in the wind that was bothering them.
So, in the middle of fixing supper, I took my trowel out to the garden and carefully unwound the heavenly blue plant from the pole and moved it over to the garden stand with the 10 cent vines.
With in a few minutes, the hummingbirds were at the feeder. I am surprised they were afraid of a plant. I have noticed them around the garden stand morning glories lots of times. By the way, these two colors are the only ones showing up from the 10 cent pack. There was supposed to be a dark pink in the mix, but so far, only various shades of these colors.
Hi Sandy, my fellow blue-flower lover,
These are gorgeous shots. You capture the beauty of the morning glories amazingly well.
I was amazed by your hummingbird story – that flapping leaves or the play of shadows could affect them so. It reminds me of my dog, who every now and then, gets scared by something and very gingerly approaches to investigate.
I guess if you’re as small as a hummingbird, it pays to be cautious. I wonder if you left the vine there, how long it would take them to realize that it was only a plant?
Good thing you figured it out. It would have been bad if they didn’t come back. They are so fun to watch.
That’s interesting, Sandy. You’re right – who would have thought? I think they become so routined and fly on auto-pilot and when something changes…oh, well.
I took a feeder down today and replaced it with a new one. They were SO SHY but finally decided the new one was OK.
Love those blue morning glories!
It amazes me that you are so in tune with nature that you realized what was bothering the little birds! I can’t remember to fill the feeders so I have plants to take up my slack. Gorgeous photos!
lovely story – reminds me I must refill our bird feeder but the rain will have to stop first.
We learn something new about those hummers all the time. Thanks for sharing! Nice photo of the morning glories.
Beautiful photos!
The heavenly blue. The timid hummers. The thoughtful gardener. Life is good.
Oh! Have you visited Tom at his Mon@rch’s Nature Blog http://monarchbfly.com/
His August 13 post and videos are not to be believed. Particularly the story about bear who fell through his window trying to get at his hummingbird feeder. (There’s no video of that :0)
Love hummers! I have a mandevilla below my feeder on a pole like yours. It wound itself all the way up to the top. I’ve been fortunate that the hummers love it, and now that there are finally blooms, they visit both the feeder and the blooms. Glad yours are finally back to the feeder.
Very interesting. Maybe they were afraid of predators that might hide under the leaves. I’m glad you were so observant.