We put out hummingbird feeders in our back yard. Because I love kangaroo paws (plant), B had bought a really nice one and planted it along the fence. By the next morning, it had attracted 4 hummers, zooming around, hovering and darting.

That inspired me to get out the old hummingbird feeders, clean them up, and fill them with sugar water. We've hung them out, one on each side of the kangaroo paws. There must be 8 or 9 of them, sipping regularly. One has a brilliant green back, a male. I guess the rest of them, all brown, are females.

There's a hummer nest up in the mulberry tree, and at least two more in the tall evergreens (cypress?). It's fun to watch them when we sit outside early in the morning and drink our coffee. The old Manx, Max, isn't the slightest bit interested in them, thank goodness.

A couple of mornings ago we saw a much bigger bird, with a yellow and black body, white bar across the outspread wings. It stopped to enjoy the syrup water, too.

It's a black hooded oriole--some kind of oriole, anyway. I'm told they like grape jelly, so we're going to pick some up on our next foray to a place that sells comestibles.

Yeah, we'll get people food, too.