Hummingbird victory!

This morning I took this picture, just to show that I do have morning glories.

I am not so very proud of this corner of my yard.  I think the bright orange and deep purple look more like a sports team than like somebody's flower bed.  I'd expected the morning glories to be more of a cornflower blue color, and the nasturtiums to be more towards yellow.  I guess you get what you get.

Speaking of getting, we have hummingbirds around.

For Father's Day I got Shawn a hummingbird feeder.  I think I got him some other things, too, but the hummingbird feeder has turned out to be the most interesting.

It came with powder to make "nectar," which was red.  We never saw the birds feeding, but the level of the nectar did go down steadily.

When the prepackaged nectar mix was gone, I googled how to make my own and found this.  Who knew there would be such a fantastic use for our white sugar, now that we eat healthy!?!? After I put my own, clear nectar into the feeder, we started seeing birds every evening, about 7:15 p.m.  They love my homemade hummingbird food!

Tonight I saw a bird earlier than usual.  I'd just filled the feeder with a fresh batch of nectar, and I think he loves it!

I decided to try to get a photo of him.  The hardest part of this was sneaking out so Schubert didn't realize I was on the porch and scratch at the dining-room window...

I sat down to wait.  Bored, I shot a photo of another one of morning glory vines.  Since it is getting on toward evening, the flowers are all closed.

I waited quietly.

And then!

When a hummingbird comes near, he buzzes, almost like a giant bee.  I suppose this is why they call them hummingbirds: the hum of their wings is startlingly loud.  If you didn't know it was a hummingbird, you might be inclined to swat it (or to duck and run).

He came and hovered above the feeder for a bit, and then he came in for a landing...

I am so excited.  

I don't know if I am more amazed that I have a hummingbird who loves my homemade nectar, or that I was able to get photos of him eating.

Today we had a hummingbird victory!