fierce, quick and tenacious. They give me such joy
Every spring and summer, for as long as I have lived here on Vancouver Island, there has been a colony of hummingbirds who visit the feeders I put out for them. At one time I was able to count fourteen of the little darlings squabbling over the three feeders I had put out. The males are the brightest and they are extremely territorial and they refuse to share the feeder but the others do not give up. Their intelligence is astonishing. If the feeders are empty or have not yet been put out early in the season, they will hover in front of my patio door as if to see if anyone is home. Failing that, if I let my dogs out the front door into the yard, the hummingbirds will "find" me, I don't know how. They will suddenly appear and buzz my head like, "hey, gitcher butt over there, the feeder is empty!"