Welcome Home, Lady Greensleeves!

The monarda have been blooming their fool heads off for the past two weeks or so, and I was beginning to despair that the hummingbirds might never come. Oh, sure, I've seen one or two on occasion, usually a quick fly-by around dawn, when Dexter and I are sitting on the front porch watching the sunrise. But nothing more than that.

But on this day, the hummingbirds returned in full force! I was working at home and took a little break in the morning to see what was going on in the yard, when I saw the first few. It's early in the season and they are quite skittish yet: their visits are brief, and they fly in and out very fast.

It's hard to photograph them at first. They're too quick. They won't sit still. But they'll get used to me, the girl who watches with a camera; who is the caretaker of this garden that is my gift to them, to the pollinators of the world.

I was working at home, but allowed myself a few hummingbird breaks throughout the day. (Hey, let's just think of it as another sort of water cooler chat, involving perhaps a different set of strange birds than those I usually hang with.) I saw some hummingbirds, got a few photos, rejoiced to see them there.

In the evening, around dusk, I went out for one last look. And suddenly I saw a small, familiar form sitting on the fence. She was wearing her traditional lovely green dress, relaxing in the place that is her favorite spot to sit. She was gazing adoringly into the butterfly garden, looking at all of those tasty red blooms.

It was indeed her, the lovely Lady Greensleeves! That spot in my heart that had had a tiny something missing was suddenly made full. I smiled out loud.

I began speaking to her softly, calling her by name and welcoming her home. Ruby-throated hummingbirds fly hundreds and hundreds of miles when they migrate, flying at a speed of around 25 miles per hour and flapping their wings 55 times per second. That's a lot of work, and it's a miracle every year that they make the trip south, across the Gulf of Mexico, and back safely.

As I was speaking to LadyG, I was quietly edging closer with my camera until I was about a dozen feet from her. That's where I was when I took this shot. I told her how much I had missed her, how long I had waited, how much I had worried.

She is not my bird; of course, but I am hers. Hers now and forever, in that way that creatures can claim you. And there is no doubt that this is her garden.

Lady Greensleeves, welcome home!

The song to accompany this image had to be a song about coming home. I couldn't decide between the two, so here they both are: Simon and Garfunkel singing Homeward Bound; and Bruce Springsteen and Clarence Clemons performing an outstanding acoustic version of the song My Hometown, from a 1988 performance in Paris.

P.S. Learn more about hummingbirds!
http://www.hummingbirds.net/
http://www.worldofhummingbirds.com/