Hooded Oriole, scoping out the feeder.

We have been feeding the hummingbirds around here for several years and have a nice bunch of hummingbirds enjoying our feeders and fountain every day.  There are three species we see all the time.  They fight – and sit in the trees and click – and fly through the house from one feeder to another – and even nest in our bamboo.

My favorite is the Cinnamon Hummingbird.  They are the biggest of the three that we see a lot.  They dominate our back yard feeder, and since at about 4 inches, they can!

The Fork-Tailed Emerald Hummingbird is the most plentiful of all.  The aerial acrobatics that they perform are just amazing!  And they LOVE to take baths – the little bubble at the top of our fountain is their favorite and they will click and buzz if we forget to turn it on right away in the morning.  They are fastidious, too – most seem to want a bath both in the morning and at night.

We recently became aware that there is a third species in our yard – the Little Hermit Hummingbird.  It seems to be indifferent to competition and will drink away at the feeder as other hummers come and go.

Our hummingbirds now have competition for the nectar we provide . both the Orchard Oriole and the Hooded Oriole.

The orioles drink from the feeder by sort of sitting on it and curving their beak around to use their long tongue to slurp up the nectar.  They are pretty good at it, and are careful not to spill a drop.  Maybe they know that the lady who fills them would get cranky if they wasted too much!

See the Cinnamon at the top of the cord holding the feeder? He's waiting his turn.

They make an interesting noise that I notice right away.  Then the hummingbirds start doing their territorial clicking, but that wouldn’t scare an oriole!

The hooded oriole as he gets ready to eat.

Orioles also like fruit and fruit jelly, so I am trying to entice them to a piece of fruit that is about 10 feet from the feeder.  I imagine it will take a few days for them to notice it, though.

Easy for a bird to do...

Our kitchen table in the sala fresca is right in the flight path between the two feeders.  Of course our windows are open all day!  I can see both feeders from where I sit and I truly enjoy watching all the bird antics around here.

I love geckos.  We have them all over the house, and enjoy their kissing noises in the evening.  They are considered good luck, and since they eat bugs and are cute, we are happy to have them living with us!

They like to run around at night, and in the morning we have evidence of where they’ve been!  They like to hang out above one of my kitchen counters (yes, it get’s cleaned first thing in the morning) and on the curved hood above my range.  I need to get the ladder and wipe that down at least every couple of weeks.

But they do their job – we have very few mosquitoes here and I rarely see an ant or a fly.  The other day I turned on a ceiling fan and one must have been resting on the blade – he fell off right in front of me and I think we were both frightened!

We have two lights in our courtyard that have become home for a group of geckos.  They hang out there all night, waiting for the unwary bug to be attracted to the light – and then – it’s dinner!

Baby geckos have been everywhere for the last few weeks.  I like the one poking its nose out from under the light pictured below.

I apologize for not blogging much lately – we have had construction in the house and I have been sewing and reading a lot.  Snowbirds are arriving back in town and the art and social whirl is getting going…so there is a lot going on, just not much that seemed worth sharing.  See you soon!

Tomorrow is the Day of the Dead, and we put together a little altar to remember our loved ones who have passed on.  Pictured are my parents, who died way too young.  My mother was only 41 and my father 56.  Paul’s parents are pictured, too – they lived longer – into their 70’s.  There is also a picture of “Papa when he was a girl” – my maternal grandfather, born in 1898, wearing a dress in the days where boys graduated into short pants. My father’s parents are pictured, too… oh, I miss them all.

One frame is empty, and signifies a sadness that I have this year with people who have withdrawn themselves from our lives.  It is a very sad situation, one that has left me feeling bereaved.

Of course there is some tequila and beer and a candle.  It should have a whole bunch of marigolds and a package of cigarettes, but our altar isn’t perfect, just like us.