I Am Not Going to Mexico!

Posted on December 2, 2012 by apronheadlilly

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I have food right here–a steady supply.  And I have my adoring fan club that I pose for, so why in the world should I exert myself in flying that long trek over the Gulf?

You said snow?  What’s that?

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About apronheadlilly

wife and mother, musician, composer / poet, teacher, and observer of the world, flawed Christ-follower
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15 Responses to I Am Not Going to Mexico!

  1. tootlepedal says:
    December 2, 2012 at 11:25 pm

    I am suffering from bird envy again.

    Reply
  2. dorannrule says:
    December 3, 2012 at 1:16 am

    Wow! They are staying late! And their expressions exactly match their words. I agree with them. I’m not going either. Tried it twice and it’s not worth the effort. Maybe a blog in it somewhere though. 🙂

    Reply
    • apronheadlilly says:
      December 3, 2012 at 1:49 am

      Sounds like it ! 🙂 I have heard that if they have a food supply, they often will not migrate. But we are at about 3000 ‘ elevation, so often get freezing weather and even snow, so that might not be good for the little guys. I assume they are smart enough to leave if it is too cold.

      Reply
      • The Birding Bunch says:
        December 3, 2012 at 6:16 pm

        “Sillyhead!” Hehe…
        Read this, but it is from Arizona, so not all info will pertain to where you live, but it explains a bit about migration and hummingbirds.
        http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/20121007hummingbird-migration-feeders-clay.html?nclick_check=1

        That is one of the biggest myths of feeding birds, any bird- that they will not migrate if they find a great food source. There have been hummingbirds that come with a few screw loose, so to speak, so they head the wrong direction. People have somehow rigged up heated hummingbird feeders to keep liquid nectar for those birds. This fall we had some sparrows stay much longer than usual and hoped they’d stay, but nope, that urge kicked in.

        Reply
        • apronheadlilly says:
          December 3, 2012 at 6:39 pm

          I couldn’t open the link for some reason.
          I watched a documentary that said some hummingbirds that typically migrate across the Gulf of Mexico to winter in Mexico are staying in the lower southern states because of the increase in back yard feeders. The only problem here would be that thought we are southern, we have altitude that gives us a colder winter. I definitely have fewer right now. We’ll see whether they stay. And how do I determine if they are just ones with screws loose? 🙂

        • The Birding Bunch says:
          December 3, 2012 at 6:55 pm

          Oh, dear. The “Sillyhead” was in reference to what was said in the article. I wouldn’t have called you that outright. 🙂 I was able to get to it. They had a thing pop up saying I can view only 19 more articles for the month, so maybe a cookie issue or something??

          Well, if you got a Ruby-throated Hummingbird this fall/winter that would be one with a loose screw as they are normally out of your range. If we see any other hummingbird, they would have the issues, since all we are supposed to see is the Ruby-throated. If I remember, it has to do with the internal compass they have, sometimes it is messed up.

          Now that is interesting about the documentary and they are messing up anyone’s efforts of trying to dispel those myths. 🙂 I think birds are smart (for the most part). If it gets cold, they’ll move to warmer areas.

        • apronheadlilly says:
          December 3, 2012 at 8:12 pm

          Right. And I thought sillyhead was directed to me, but I didn’t take offence because that is often the case with me! 🙂 What we have are the black chinned and Annas, though not near as many. It’s been getting quite cold at night, so it makes me wonder how they keep warm even with that lowering body temperature thing that they do. Maybe I will invite them in the house for tea and cookies.

        • apronheadlilly says:
          December 4, 2012 at 2:00 am

          Oh, I remembered that one of the kinds is the broad tailed hummingbird.

  3. pattisj says:
    December 3, 2012 at 6:37 am

    What a sweet little visitor. Love the ‘thoughts.’

    Reply
  4. Mona says:
    December 5, 2012 at 3:02 am

    Great shots! What do you do? Sit on your patio for hours, waiting for these little critters to visit?

    By the way, I thoroughly enjoy your narratives with all of your bird pics (and the pictures themselves are pretty darn good).

    Reply
    • apronheadlilly says:
      December 5, 2012 at 3:22 am

      Much of my work, play, and communication is done at my computer. I have a window there that I keep clean (the only one:)) and attached to that window with sunction is a feeder that a friend sent me. We had reconnected on FB, and out of the blue she sent me this snazzy feeder. For my other shots, I go outside and wait, but with this one, they come to me and are facing me through the window. Fun stuff! They have gotten used to me, I think, because they aren’t as skitterish as at first. The only disadvantage is that it is under my patio, so the light is not always good.

      Reply
  5. Shez says:
    December 8, 2012 at 7:02 am

    Our Annas Hummingbirds stay year round. We are in the Portland metro area. I have photos of him/her in the tree with snow and it snowing. We hung the feeder in a protected covered area on our deck. We used a pipe heater, the encased wire type that is wrapped around outdoor pipes that are subject to freezing, and wrapped it around the glass bottles. The little guys are smart, they soon learned that they could sit on the warmer and keep their toes toasty. As the nights dipped into the low teens they stayed in the covered area and perched on the top of a window ledge just above the heater and stayed the night.

    Reply

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