His garden
flowers grew,
like shadows
caught by
sundials in
a playful mood,
as the seasons
changed, most
of them stayed
the same – except
the gentlest of
the lot – a dahlia
out of sorts, his
polka-dotted muse
in comfortable shoes;
she rode colder winds,
un-plucked, unrestrained.
If I could not host hummingbirds daily in my own terrace garden atop the hills some day, I would not have fully lived. They don’t even have to land on my palms to reaffirm any special connection I might have with birds. They just need to come and see me whenever it doesn’t rain. However hummingbirds are restricted to US and Canada with winter holidays in Mexico and Central America. Perhaps a good enough reason to leave these waters.
For now I play hide-and-seek with Purple Sunbirds and Purple-Rumped Sunbirds from a few balconies in my city. In hill stations too. They are thimblefuls of joy. They hover around like adorable helicopters with curvy beaks and songs in the key of trrrtit tituuuu tituuuu.
The dazzling hues on the coats of male Purple Sunbirds leap out in well-lit environments; they appear fully black otherwise. The females look like pint-sized versions of Yellow-Browed Bulbuls. The Purple-Rumped are more sexually dimorphic than the average birdie. I have confused the females with Little Spiderhunters many times given their fishhooks for beaks.
Taking care of a terrace garden is another priority on my bucket list. It could be on the ground too. It doesn’t matter. I would want to do it because it would make me feel good about myself, and the tiny contributions I would have the privilege (and pleasure) of making to the environment.
I can see that take time though. For now, my friend – Shannon’s updates would do. Her family, a merry bunch of gardeners, birders, conservationists and all-round beautiful people, sound like ideal neighbours. She writes wonderfully and posts lovely photographs about the peculiarities and possibilities in their lives at Dirt N Kids.
I am astounded by the beauty of this post, C! Wonderful! ❤
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thanks D, appreciate it!
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The clarity of the photos are commendable. 🙂
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Yay some poetry for me…..I wuvvvvvs it so ❤❤❤
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And a happy thanksgiving ❤
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Appy thanksgiving daffys ❤ 🙂
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Beautiful poetry. And that is an understatement. 😀
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Thanks muchos suche 🙂
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De nada Christy boy 😀
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what an interesting title…are you the gardener btw 😀
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Gosh not very subtle am I 🙂
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hehehe..do u practice it…subtlety is an art …of which I have zero knowledge 😛
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Not yet comrade, hope to learn some day 🙂 aww subtlely is better left to sub-editors I suppose!
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u mean u want to be a sub-editor one day :D?
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Hehe no I worked as one for a year or so, at this point I am blithering anyway 🙂
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😀 good for you..
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would they really come there? actual hummingbirds? if you had a home in the hills?
p.s my mind is covered in pubic hair, now
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good lady, i present to you exhibit A 🙂
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me (middle tone, no emotion): um -pause- um- pause- ummm – pause -um- pause x3- ummmm
me again (calm confident voice)- “yeah it’s probably up there as one of my favorite birds, id call it the ‘crack bird’ though
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hehe sugar bum rush indeed
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My hummers let me get REAL close to shoot video outside, dn’t seem to mind my being right there at all. No tripod needed!
Don’t have the link of it right off, but you should be able to easily find it with the other link. Cheers!
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Great use of photos and poetry! I absolutely love hummingbirds.
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Thank you so much!
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Lovely,…don’t know if I like the “shadows caught by sundials” or the “polka dotted muse” better! 🙂
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I completely relate about the hummingbirds. (In a trip to New York last summer, I saw one (https://somewhereupatree.wordpress.com/2014/07/02/the-sad-short-tale-of-the-central-park-hummingbird/) ON ITS NEST. Needless to say, still not over it.) In Singapore, unfortunately, our ‘compensation’ is much less colorful than purple sunbirds and purple-rumped – limited to only olive-backed regularly, though more colorful relatives occasionally make an appearance. But I really enjoy observing purple-rumped in our visits to Bangalore, and actually kept a blog recording their behavior for a course last summer (http://sandpitsunbirds.wordpress.com/).
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Olive backed sunbirds sound exquisite! I remember visiting a butterfly park of sorts in singapore and throwing a fit when told it was closing time.
And that NEST. That post. And the pit blog! Sheesh awesome, everything. Love it!
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If you ever come to Singapore again, let me know – I’ll tell you where to go to see wild butterflies. 🙂 The sunbird blog was for a course I was taking at the time on animal behavior, which required us to observe an animal we saw – I chose the purple-rumped, because, well, what’s not to love? 😛
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Purrrfectly said, what’s not to love indeed. I mean, just the purple alone! And i shall ping and a pong thee for the butterflies, comrade 🙂
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Oh my! How did I miss this? I also enjoy he digital yet miles-between relationship and of all we seem to have in common. Your love affair with hummingbirds, for instance, is not taken lightly. Nuggets of Fluff, my kids call them! They are fierce in personality, wielding their swords against others who might have the audacity to want to share a full feeder. We are enjoying a minor migration at the moment of the Ruby-throat, watching from the kitchen windows and beyond.
You might also like these! https://dirtnkids.wordpress.com/tag/hummingbirds/. Thanks again for the blog love, my friend. I always enjoy posts when I have time for a good read. 😀
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Bookmarked as a happy place 🙂 Nuggets of fluff? That sounds perfect! You just write a post on the descriptions they have come up for other birdies too. Can’t wait to hear more about the Ruby-throated one (She looks so gorgeous that I turn red just looking at her), comrade 🙂
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