Learning Moments:

Baby Hummingbird

How cool is this? We've got a baby hummingbird in our backyard. With the help of a stepladder, I took some photos.

We've named him/her Summer (the hummer) because, well, it's summer! We've been watching Summer for the past week, as he/she grows quickly from a little hummer with a tiny beak to the point where it's positively bursting out of its' nest.

Today, Summer is moving a lot. I expect that he/she will be flying off within the next few days. Until, we plan to enjoy the process (and then clean all the 'residue' off of our back patio.

Learning Moments:

So... you wanted to get close to nature, huh?

We spent the fourth of July weekend at Point Reyes National Seashore, where we ate a lot of oysters, drank a little wine, did some reading, and fit in a couple of 8-mile hikes.

One of those hikes was the trail out to Tomales Point. Now, I know that it's been a rainy year in California and that the wildflowers did quite well. This was a little over-the-top, though, don't you think?

There is a trail that ran straight between me and Angie in the photo above. You just can't see it through the growth. While that may look spectacular (and it was even better in real life), it wasn't so spectacular on our legs.

We've walked this trail a bunch of times before and even debated taking a different trail this trip. Once again, however, we learned that, 'one can never step in the same river twice', because everything changes. As long as you're open to it, even seemingly repetitive events can create a brand new experience.

Learning Moments:

Quail Chicks at Carmel Mission, CA

It's the time of year when you need to keep your eyes open. Warm weather brings bare skin, ice cream trucks, fresh blooms, and babies of all types.

I was taking photos at beautiful Carmel Mission this afternoon, when a little bird sprinted across the courtyard in front of me. My first thought was, 'uh oh... someone fell out of a nest'. After watching the little bugger do three hundred-yard dashes, however, I realized that he didn't fall anywhere. This was a ground bird.

Soon, a couple of his family joined him. They zipped back and forth maniacally, like the Keystone Cops. I just sat back and watched, snapping photos on the few occasions that they stood still. The groundskeeper and I had a short conversation about them. He hadn't seen them, so he just stood, smiling with me.

Learning Moments:

Hummingbird Nest in our backyard

This is cool. We've got a hummingbird nest in the tree behind our condo. The nest is about 5 feet outside our back door, and about 10 feet up. Mama, pictured above, has been flitting about - putting the nest together and sitting (I assume) on a couple of eggs.

Hummingbirds are one of my three favorite birds (pelicans and kingfishers are the other two), so I'm psyched about watching a little hummer grow up in our backyard. I know nothing about hummingbird life cycles, so I'll be doing some research on that over the next few weeks. What I do know is that the next is about the size of a sake cup, so that's got to be one small egg...