Cynthia Underwood Thayer

  • Home
  • Biography
  • Books
    • We’re Going Home
      • Book Signing
    • A Brief Lunacy
      • Publisher’s Weekly
      • Boston Globe
      • Sun Sentinel Review
    • A Certain Slant of Light
      • The World and I
      • Blurbs
      • The Bridgewater Review
      • Publisher’s Weekly
    • Strong for Potatoes
      • Young Adult Editor’s Recommended Book
      • Booknotes
      • Booklist
  • Teaching and Talks
    • Writing Workshops and Talks
      • The Short Short
      • Story Structure
      • Dialogue
    • Fiber Workshops and Talks
    • Farm Related Workshops and Talks
  • Other Cool Stuff
    • Local food – raising it, cooking it, and eating it
    • My Place
    • Schoodic Point
    • Family Secrets
    • Turning 60 and Going Naked
    • Natural Dyeing
      • Indigo Dyeing
        • Growing Indigo
        • Description of the Indigo Dye Process
        • The Magic of Indigo
      • Yellows, Reds, and Other Colors from the Garden
    • Fiber Work
      • Spinning
      • Felting
      • Knitting
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Media
Making Pasta »

Hummingbirds

This morning two male ruby-throated hummingbirds attacked each other in front of my kitchen window. Every year they zoom to my feeder that has been empty all winter and become annoyed when there’s no nectar to sip. I rushed to mix up some sugar and water and now they seem contented, coming and going, males and females. I guess it’s too early for much natural nectar from flowers other than dandelions and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a hummingbird with its beak in a dandelion.

Last year a hummingbird flew into our store and I found him almost lifeless on the counter. I picked him up and remember how fragile and tiny he felt in my palm. I carried him to the porch and asked Bill to mix some sugar water into an eyedropper. The bird was too weak to hold his head up so I placed the eyedropper at the tip of his beak and let the sugar water dribble out. After a few moments, he began sipping at the water. I must have sat holding the bird for fifteen minutes before he shook his head, beat his wings, and flew in the direction of the red begonia.

This entry was written by Cynthia, posted on May 8, 2011 at 1:27 pm, filed under Nature and tagged nature. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.
Making Pasta »
  •  Facebook
  • Recent Posts

    • Making Pasta
    • Hummingbirds
  • Categories

    • Cooking
    • Nature