About two years ago we decided to hang up a hummingbird feeder in our back yard. I was so surprised how quickly a little hummingbird discovered the feeder hanging on the black metal hook on our deck. It was literally only about fifteen minutes.
I was also very surprised that the hummingbird was not at all afraid to come to the feeder when we were sitting on the deck, only a few feet away from it. I was startled the very first time the little hummingbird flew right passed me to zoom in on getting some food from the bird feeder. It made a very loud humming noise as it zipped passed my left shoulder and I knew immediately why they are called hummingbirds. I just couldn’t believe that this tiny bird wasn’t more shy about coming to the feeder for its supper when there were people sitting nearby. After the hummingbird feeder was out for a few days, there were soon three hummingbirds coming to the feeder regularly.
A friend even told me she had a feeder that she can hold in her hand and the hummingbirds will come right to her hand to feed. I don’t think I am ready for that. The thought of a bunch of little birds flying around me at close proximity, well, lets just say, just the thought of that, makes me feel very uncomfortable. But, after watching a YouTube video of someone else doing that, it does show you how amazing and outgoing these little feathery birds really are.
I would love to see one of their little nests. I tried to watch where our little hummingbirds were flying back and forth from, following them with my eyes, tracing their flight, but they would quickly get lost in the leaves of the trees. Then, just as quick as they would fly into the foliage, it seemed as though they would fly back out into the open space and back to the feeder, barely stopping to rest in between their flights.
I was thinking it would be nice to plant flowers that would help attract hummingbirds to my garden. After doing some research to discover what type of flowers hummingbirds enjoy, I learned one of their favorite flowers are morning glories. They grow on a vine and are bright and colorful, which helps to attract hummingbirds to the flowers. I have since relocated to Pennsylvania, so next spring, I plan on planting flowers that hummingbirds, butterflies and bees are attracted.
In the meantime, I decided to paper sculpted a hummingbird out of tiny, little, individually hand cut feathers and then paint the bird in watercolor and gouache. The paper sculpted hummingbird, Ruby, is very small, measuring in at only 1.25” from head-to-tail! Morning glories sounded like a perfect match for my little hummingbird picture. The custom, wood frame measures 4.5” high x 5” wide x 2” deep.