Hummingbird Story

[Excavator]

These guys put on quite an airshow as we sit on the porch.

They fly through the chairs, porch rail, then the cinnamon vines, and I've yet to see one with a dented front end.

They play chase all day. I had a wheelbarrow and shovel beside the porch, one flew over the shovel and the other flew under, they knocked the shovel out of the wheelbarrow and I don't think they touched it.

They really dig my camo hat.

The feeder is on the left end rafter of the well house:

 

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[VanGone]

Enjoyed your story and cool pictures. They are a very cool little bird and very friendly. You use the name Excavator. I use to work at a place that built excavators. Ours were FMC Link Belt Speeder.
Van

 

[RGINN]

Those are good pics, Excavator. We have our feeder up, but we have to put it up real high so the bears don't get at it.

 

[Excavator]

Van- I've seen those Link Belt machines around, I mainly work with CAT, since one of our clients is a statewide CAT dealer. I use Komatsu a little, but I'm totally befuddled when I hop in a John Deere .

RG- We have an occasional bear sighting over here on the west side of WV, but all the bear hunters here head east to the big mountains. It's hard to imagine getting regular visits from the ornery critters. I plan to get out west for some hardcore exploring once I retire.

 

[curbdiggercarl57]

Great photo job there!

 

[Bridge End Farm]

awesome

always enjoy your posts on here

 

[Excavator]

Hey thanks, I share a lot of the credit with the hummingbird for being friendly and cooperative.

It was sorta funny how this got started. I told my wife we may as well not hang the feeder, since we didn't think we would be around to fill it often enough. We were sitting on the porch and the hummingbirds kept hovering in front of us or sitting on the phone wire looking at us, ...saying Hey c'mon! They were buzzing my head before I could hang the feeder.

Missed picking cherries this year, but the songbirds loved it and gave us music all day.

 

[Tnmountains]

I love watching them. I also think they are going to hit me in the head when buzzing by. Yeah Komatsu is here in Chattanooga. Big plant and good machine. Thanks for the show.
TnMountains

 

[Excavator]

Well RG, we were driving over the ridge towards the Devil's Tea Table on Monday afternoon and guess what we spotted in the road ahead.

A black bear!

A first for all of us, none had seen a bear in the wild before. And it's rare to see one on this side of WV. Apparently some have taken residence along this ridgetop, my uncle had found tracks about a mile away, two years ago. The bear we saw looked to be a young one, maybe a year old, but not full grown.

The old timers had been warning me that they won't go into the woods without a sidearm due to the coyotes in the area (something new in these parts). I didn't take them too seriously, I really didn't think it was much of a problem, having never seen one. We heard coyotes howl two nights in a row, now we've seen a bear.

I'm going to be a little more careful and wary.

We had three people in the front seat, five kids and four adults in the bed of the pickup. I had already decided to make a left turn to bypass a steep downhill and the bear was standing in the road that I was bypassing. The day before we had traveled down that hill.

I know the bear was afraid of us and running away, but I shudder to think of trying to outrun an attacking bear down that hill with a truckload of precious passengers.

I said to my wife... "Look at that big dog. BEAR!"

 

[packerbacker]

Yup, they are fun to watch. Nice pics ex

 

[RGINN]

We've got more bears in town this year than before but I always seem to be right behind them for a pic. They don't cause much of a problem because everybody tries to bear proof everything. I've also heard an old story that if they chase you, and you don't have a coat or backpack to throw off, run downhill. Due to the design of their bodies they aren't as fast downhill. Or it could have been uphill. Anyway, if you get to try that out, let us know for sure which one it is. Take care!

 

[Excavator]

Our bear ran downhill to get away from us.

Talked a DNR officer today, sounds like it's not so rare in that area. He knows there's an adult female with two cubs in that area and one was taken in season two years ago, across the river. A resident within 5 miles of there has pictures of them poking around his place.

DNR guy said not to worry about the bears or the song dogs unless I corner one or try to take it's dinner away.