hummingbird summer

There have been hummingbirds here each of the past three summers. But it was only this summer that we added a hummingbird feeder. Now a pair visits the feeder quite frequently. We first noticed their presence on May 31st. They had arrived after their astonishing journey -- I think theirs is the longest flight of any migratory bird that spends summers here.If you sit quietly they will let you take their picture. First you hear a very loud humming: the female's wings beating the air. Then she arrives inside the camera's frame.
Outside the camera's frame, the rams are walking up the path from the lower orchard to the front yard. Greg is rowing across the cove after checking the gillnet. The white throated sparrow is singing. The toads are trilling.

Why do these hummingbirds travel every year all the way from Central America to Nova Scotia? What makes them return to this particular place? It's a mystery. I couldn't even tell you where they are nesting, though we think it's in the skeleton forest just north of the house, which is a good place for keeping secrets.

It's a long evening. The sun won't set for another couple of hours. And there's plenty of time for sipping the sweetness of summer.