Say 'ello to my leetle fren'

This amazing event first took place on Saturday, but I knew you guys wouldn't believe me unless I had pictures to prove it. (It's ok, I wouldn't have believed any of you, either.) I fed a hummingbird out of my hand!! First, I believe introductions are in order. Friends and family, this is Archilochus colubris, or Archie for short. Archie, this is everyone.
It all started when Jeff was sitting on the deck Friday night. He was drinking Mountain Dew *gag* and a hummingbird buzzed right up to him and darted around Jeff's bottle. After the bird flew away, Jeff poured some of the radioactive liquid into the cap and held it in his hand. The bird came back, buzzed around some more and then drank from the cap. As the poor little bird flew away, he exploded. Feathers and high-fructose corn syrup were scattered all over the yard. I guess the sugar, yellow number 5 and carbonation was just too much for the little guy.

Ok, he didn't really explode. But I have it on good authority that he's developed ADHD and is now an insomniac.

Anybirdy, this gave me an idea. The next day I took the hummingbird feeder off of the kitchen window, sat on the deck and waited. Not more than two minutes later, one of the handful of hummingbirds that we attract came by. I've never been that close to one of them, before, so I was really surprised at how loud their "humming" was. He hovered around, checked me out, even pooped on me. The little guy finally decided that he could trust me enough to actually perch while he fed.

Feeding a hummingbird by hand wasn't on my bucket list before, but you can bet it's there now. It's so awesome to be close to something so beautiful, and to have such a tiny creature trust you enough to land on you.

I tried all weekend to get pictures, but I was always out there too late in the evening. I finally got a bunch of pictures today. Here they are, for your viewing pleasure: