A friend today was talking about "Hummingbirds" and this reminded me of a watercolour painting I did many years ago. It never got framed and was just hidden away in my watercolour paper drawer. Anyway, I dusted it off and did a quick photo to share. The original was drawn looking through the living room window at my parents house in Belleville, Ontario. With the passing of both my parents, the house now belongs jointly to my brother Keith, his wife Ann Marie and I. At the time of drawing and painting, we had frequent visits from a number of different types of hummingbirds as they were attracted to the flowering shrub by the front deck, and the hummingbird feeder that my father kept stocked with some syrupy food. This painting I think was done in 1998 or 1999 but I cannot remember exactly when. Ugh! I have left some kind of mucky fingerprint on the painting. I guess at some point I will have to carefully remove it.
Well according to the hummingbird official web-site, the only version frequenting the eastern US and Canada was the Ruby-throated. But this does not look like the pictures of the Ruby-throated hummingbird, but it is what I saw. I suppose some of the coloration seen was due to reflected light from the environment. The other hummingbirds appear to have been females.
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"Hummingbird" [Click on image for larger view] |
Hi again Dave,
ReplyDeleteSara plants for wildlife (much to the chagrin of our neighbor with the golf-course lawn) and we get 3 different kinds of hummingbird, also contrary to what the books say we should see. Maybe global migration? Lost pets are common, especially python and iguana, even monkeys a little farther south--but I don't think hummers are ever kept as pets, are they? Most unusual sighting was an Australian frilled-neck lizard. Hope it got south before the freeze!
Mark Fletcher