Sunday, April 18, 2010

Sunday Stills: In a Jam !

Farmer Rick has been recuperating nicely from his surgery, and the pathology report confirmed that the cancer was removed with a safe margin, so no other treatment will be necessary. This is a huge relief to us! Last week I was his substitute, teaching music and theater to 200 kids on top of my own private students and doing both our farm chores! I will continue doing this until he feels well enough to return, hopefully sometime next week.

For this week's Sunday Stills, Ed gave us a 'potluck' choice on the imagery for the challenge, and, of course, something presented itself first thing this morning. (And, it also makes up for my absence in last week's Hands challenge!)


I found this female hummingbird quite literally stuck in a jam--the grape jelly that goes on the new Oriole feeder for our orange feathered friends!


You can see all the breast feathers she left behind trying to wiggle out of the stuff. Poor thing, probably spent the night stuck in the jam. She was weakened and shivering when I found her, almost limp in my hand. After a rinse off and towel dry at the kitchen sink, I knew she needed some food right away. I have helped with several hummingbird banding projects locally, and my job has always been to feed and release them, so I'm a pro at this part! Fill 'er up!


The other hummingbirds didn't seem to mind. Maybe they even understood I was helping out.




Thank you for my new feeder, and removing whatever that was stuck in my grape jelly!

No problem, really.

The Hooded Oriole pair showed up about two days ago and I had their feeder waiting. The last two years I modified a regular hummingbird feeder to fit their beaks. This was taken right after extracting the little hummer.

For more potluck images visit Sunday Stills!

16 comments:

Beth said...

Oh my gosh that is so sweet! . . . literally and figuratively :)

colleen said...

That is simply amazing. I have never seen so many hummers at one feeder before. And with you there!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful rescue. I can't wait for my hummers to show up.

Ed said...

I am sooooooo jealous, all the hummers and we are lucky to see one or two. Well done..:-)

Shirley said...

I'm glad to hear your husband is doing well after surgery.
The hummer video is simply amazing!

Sandy Trefger said...

Wonderful news for Farmer Rick and for you! And bless you for knowing what to do to save the little hummer!!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful photos and wonderful news about Rick, Sage. Best wishes ........

Kateri said...

Poor little hummingbird, getting stuck in the jelly like a fly in a fly strip. I'm glad you got her out and she was okay. I agree, that is an impressive amount of hummingbirds!

Hope your husband continues to do well!

NitWit1 said...

Love the hummingbirds; What a small creature to be stuck in jelly. But most of all the medical news for Rick is wonderful. Being a cancer survivor myself, positive news makes recovery much easier.

And Spring lifts the spirits of all of us.

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Wow!!! Your hummers are so tame! And that little hummer sure did sip for a very long time. Amazing!

No hummers here yet. We had hail today and temps into the 30's.

I've never seen hooded orioles before. They are gorgeous!

Thanks for sharing the photos and video. What a treat!

~Lisa

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Oh! And I almost forgot. Congrats to Rick! I hope he just keeps getting better and better.


~Lisa

Anonymous said...

very nice photos, the birds are so cute

thecrazysheeplady said...

Oh, that's AWESOME!!!! And good news about Rick too ;-).

Jill said...

Wow! Absolutely amazing! So glad you got to the little guy in time.

Far Side of Fifty said...

Thanks for leaving me the link to this post..I am glad your Hummingbird adventure turned out good too! They are amazing birds! I am glad to hear that your husband is going to be OK! :)

Dan said...

Hmm. I was considering getting one of those oriole feeders, but this is the time I've come across a person who had a hummer get stuck in the jelly. Perhaps it is not a good idea to have the jelly right next to the nectar port.

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