I arrived back home safe and sound from that wonderful camping trip to Yakima. With the trailer parked in my driveway, I unloaded the things that needed unloading. The trailer was then ready for cleaning, re-stocking, and a few little projects prior to my next outing.
Of course there was also laundry to do, the mail to pick up and sort, bills to pay, and all that nonsense. As well, a week away from home meant I needed to tend to a few weeds in the flower beds, although I’ve got that so much under control that it takes me less than 20 minutes to weed everything!
But the lawn needed watering. So I pulled out my hose and my oscillating sprinkler. I positioned them so the water covered most of the back yard. Swoosh, swoosh, back and forth, swoosh, swoosh. I love the sound of the water … and the coolness that the water creates. It felt fresh and cool on this warm summer evening.
In fact, I decided to pour myself a nice glass of iced tea and sit on my back deck a spell and enjoy the evening and that oscillating stream of water. Ahhhh, yes. 🙂
Whoa, wait. What was that?
No way, really?!
A Hummingbird! Flying IN the sprinkler water? And it just hovered there for a long time. Really?
Wow. Yes, indeed, this Hummingbird flew right through the middle of the water coming out of the sprinkler. I think it must be a bit off course.
The sprinkler reached the end of its path, then started back the other direction.
And then, hey, there’s that Hummingbird again!
It flew right through the middle of the stream of water again … and hovered there again!
Ok, I’m going to watch it more closely now.
Yep, there it goes again.
This little bird kept zooming into that stream of water even as the water oscillated back and forth in two different directions. The bird just kept following the water.
I finally took a chance and ran into the house for my camera. Obviously, the hummer was still doing it’s dance with the water when I got back out on the deck with camera in hand. Back and forth, back and forth, that little bird simply followed the water and hovered right in the middle of the stream of water, no matter which direction.
I took lots of photos. Hmm, well, I tried to take lots of photos. 90% of them just show a blur. But these three above turned out pretty well, considering.
That little Hummingbird kept playing in the water for about 20 minutes … a long time.
It was indeed a warm summer evening. I was so happy to share the coolness of that water with a happy little Hummingbird. 🙂
How cute!!
Quite a treat for you and the hummer!!
Ginger, that little person was so darling!
The water cooled off that hummer and the iced tea cooled me off. A good time was had by both of us. Thanks Bob. 🙂
That is remarkable, and so much fun! I’m glad you were able to catch it and share some of it with us!
When trying to get a photo, I didn’t know whether to hold absolutely still or try to move with the hummer, so I tried both methods. Mostly neither plan worked. 🙂 But eventually I got a couple of snapshots.
Birds can get overheated just like humans. Hummingbirds also need to bathe often and have been known to use sprinklers to do that. Your sprinkler was just the ticket. Great photos of a subject that’s really hard to photograph!
Thanks for the info David, and the nice words. I never thought about birds overheating on a hot day, but why not?
What a “cool” thing to witness, much less photograph!
You must have made that little bird’s day giving him a chance to cool off.
Or maybe it was she? How can we tell a female from a male hummingbird I wonder?
I bet there are jokes out and around about how to tell a female from a male hummingbird. Wish I knew some, but maybe it’s a good thing I don’t. My brother and I asked our mom how to tell a female tree from a male tree (no kidding there are some trees like that), my mom would chuckle and wink and say “look between the limbs”. And then my brother and I would groan and fall on the floor … and then we’d ask her to tell us again. Kids!
We’ve had that exact same thing happen! We always figured OUR hummingbirds were the only ones smart enough and clever enough to do that. Ok, our hummingbirds must be related to yours, Ann … lol!
Right on Marge. Obviously! you folks and I have the ONLY hummingbirds in the universe that do this! 🙂
How cool! You were so observant to see that. Most folks would have stopped with the iced tea!
And … this gives all of us the perfect excuse to stop whatever you’re doing, any time at all, and sit down with some iced tea. You just might miss something otherwise. 🙂