Dueling Hummingbirds and other news...

For those interested in funny backyard birding antics, I’ve identified a new species of hummingbird at my feeder—a couple of female Rufous Hummingbirds. They are surely passers-by, since I know they migrate, with the males going south first, then females and juveniles following later. I suspect they are stoking up for the big journey to Mexico, lucky birds.

So today there are two of these rather assertive little birds vying for space at the feeder, neither very happy with the others presence. I’ve seen a couple of minor squabbles before, but these two mean business! Here’s a photo of what they look like:





Apparently they are quite aggressive little birds, for being among the smallest (perhaps the smallest) of their kind.

Nothing else really has changed of late. We continue to plod along our respective paths together—John continuing to hammer away at his career quest and me slogging it out with the last chapter of my thesis. I am, in fact, merely taking a small break as I write this. The temperature here has returned to normal while the east coast continues to bake. Our cool summer days are so lovely. I can’t believe it’s already August and in another month or so it will be fall! Back to work on that thesis or I’ll never get it done!!