A Hummingbird!

My goodness, what excitement!

We were just sitting at the table in the learning room, plugging away at our math, when a movement outside the window caught my eye. At first, I thought it was a huge moth floating up to the window, but then I realized it was in fact a hummingbird!

It flew about for just a few moments, and even paid a brief visit to Our Lady as you can see above. This was the only picture I got and thankfully it came out all right - well, recognizable, anyway! (Please click on the image for a better view.)

She was so very tiny and just exquisite. We think it was a female Ruby-throated hummingbird - but most importantly it was our very first one! Last summer we had a hummingbird moth visit our wildflowers, but to see a real hummingbird was the loveliest gift!

Now. We need to figure out what to do to entice our little beauty back again. Bookworm is already digging through our nature study books to find out all he can. In fact, we just made up a makeshift feeding station - a small purple bowl set on a bright orange plate. The bowl has a sugar-water-orange juice concoction in it. No idea if this will work, but we're giving it a try!

Hang on - Booworm just called out this quote from Hollyhock Days, one of our favorite Sharon Lovejoy books:

"Hummers love sugar from feeders, too. They need to consume one-half their daily body weight to survive. Remember to clean your feeder daily. Only use sugar and water; no color, no honey ..."

OK, then! We just changed the bowl's contents to plain water and sugar. In the meantime, we will ask Daddy if we have a true hummer feeder in the potting shed - one he could set up asap!

If you have any hummingbird tips or tales, please do share!