Calliope lives

["Travis, Ginger" <Ginger@athena.dev.unc.edu>]

I left home too early this morning to find the little guy, but as of
yesterday the Calliope Hummingbird in my yard was still alive and on the
wing. I was next to a feeder and bent over filling my chainsaw when the
hummer buzzed up, hovered over my head for a second, then zoomed away.

A couple of weeks ago, the Calliope began using a feeder after its nectar
source, the pineapple sage, began to peter out. On the morning of the ice
storm I hung 2 additional feeders under my eaves where they would get some
protection -- and hoped for the best. Since then I have been bringing in the
feeders at dark and carrying them back out at first light. The morning of
our lowest low (Sat.?), the temperature was 18 degrees. I put the feeders
out at 6:30 a.m., and by 9 a.m. two were frozen. But the tough little guy
was flying around the yard later that morning. Go, bubba!

Ginger Travis
Orange County, near Chapel Hill, N.C.