From the Campground

I have always loved Hummingbirds. Their iridescent colors and darting flight patterns fascinate me. I am in awe of their ability to move their wings 40-80 times per second. That can increase to 200 times per second during the mating season.

After one Sunny fall day, my admiration has been slightly altered.

Every fall, I collect seeds from my plants for the following year’s plantings. Some of these require a drying period followed by removal of the seeds from the pod. It was a

Beautiful afternoon as I was shucking the hulls of seeds, I stopped to watch one particularly aggressive Hummingbird. He was relentlessly chasing off any other hummingbirds that crossed his territory. He paused about 6-7 feet away from me then hung in the air looking at me.

How cute, I thought. Then IT HAPPENED. He dive bombed my face. Five thousand miles per hour (maybe a bit slower). My hands flew up to cover my face, I ducked my head, the tray of seeds were scattered to the winds. At the last Nanosecond, The would-be Killer Hummingbird veered to the left. But, He came back.

As he stopped and stared again, it dawned on me that I had my glasses on. Hey, better late than never. I removed them and he soon lost interest. Being somewhat anal about these things, I placed the glasses on the chair at the same angle they were in at the time of The Attack. Positioning my self near where the KH had been, I confirmed my suspicions. They were a mirror. Readers beware. Never look a Hummingbird in the eye

Not if your glasses are reflecting the bird image back to the potential tiny but mighty attacker.

So I went on to a better activity. Just Enjoying the Fall foliage