Little Flights, Quiet Flights
The last two weeks the big flights, the loud flights
have been gathering - building in size and volume. In the hour between predawn and full early
morning sunshine the local marsh is filled with the piercing calls of sand hill
cranes the incessant honking of Canadian geese, and the chatter of mallards. The numbers of birds in the marsh increase
each day. The tipping point won’t be
reached until late October. Amidst all
this growing sense of palpable urgency a much quieter, more easily unnoticed
flight is also on the ready.
Way back in May when the weather finally decided to
begin warming, Michelle and I discussed whether or not we should put out the
hummingbird feeder. That evening it was
nice enough to dine on the patio (as long as you wore a sweatshirt). During the meal we were buzzed by two
hummingbirds. It was as if they had
heard our earlier conversation and they were most interested in confirming the
need to feed.
Needless to say, Michelle filled up the feeder before
we even cleared the supper dishes and it took all of about 45 seconds for the
first hummer to take a taste. For four
to six weeks there was steady use of the feeder, sometimes we saw five or six
hummers buzzing around the feeder, dipping and diving and chasing each other
around the yard. We were refilling the
feeder a couple of times each week. It
was really quite an airshow.
Then in the heart of summer, the overlap of July and
August, the feeder stayed full. We
hardly saw a hummer at all and the ones we did see were checking out the
flowers and pretty much ignoring the feeder.
As August creeped toward September, we discussed taking the feeder down
and putting it away until next May.
Then, just as in the spring, it was like the hummers heard our wondering
and they decided the matter. Just like
that hummers were constantly buzzing through the yard and attacking the feeder
with gusto.
They are fueling up for the long flight south. You are never sure when it happens. It’s not like you see a flock of hummers
flying in V formation. Just one day
soon, whether the trigger is the declining hours of daylight or the cooling
nights, they will be gone. It will be
sudden. It will be quiet. But we will notice. They will be missed.
His Peace <><
Deacon Dan
Photo by Divya Shankar on Unsplash
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