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A Joyful Noise

Walela

Thankful Thursday: The magic of a hummingbird nest

January 28, 2016 by Melodye Shore

Meet Aryana, the beautiful hummingbird that built her nest in our front yard fuchsia. Here, the stuff of magic: spider silk, cotton batting, and iridescent feathers. Other stories, too, if you examine it closely.

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Hummingbird High-rise

Right before Christmas, Aryana set about building this nest. She pressed nesting materials into the bottom with her tiny feet, and used her torso to help give it a cup-like shape.

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It took mama hummingbird ten days to construct her walnut-sized nest. Soon after, two tiny eggs appeared.

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I like to think Aryana nests here because Chez Shore is peaceful, and because our gardens are filled with nectar plants and flowers. But the truth is more nuanced, and likely more practical. Instinct no doubt led her (and previous mama hummingbirds) to this very spot because it blends in with the foliage and flowers, and the roof overhang helps shelter her from predators, heavy winds and rain.

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Collage credit belongs to Aryana’s “godmother,” Carol Cosper Meadows.

It’s not easy to snap photos into that dark corner –and through the kitchen window, at that. But the opportunity to witness firsthand this unfolding wonder, well. The payoff is huge. I’m learning to rely less on my camera’s Auto Mode, to angle the camera just so and wait patiently for her visits.

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Earlier this week, Aryana’s babies broke free of their shells.

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Wendy hatched on Sunday; Peter showed up on the scene a day later. I only know this because, while she was foraging for food in one of our flowerbeds, I stretched myself across the top rung of a 6-foot ladder and zoomed in.

Click, click. I pressed the shutter button a couple of times, and then clambered down. I never, ever touch Aryana’s hatchlings, never disturb her nesting habits.

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“Miracles on a cloud,” someone called Aryana’s newborns. I can’t remember who, or I’d give them credit. But it sounds about right to me–you, too?

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Aryana’s feeding her babies a slurry of nectar & insects

I know it won’t surprise you to hear that I love talking about these winged beauties. I point out the nest to visitors, post hatchling updates on Facebook, Instagram and (less often) Twitter. So indulge me a little while longer, please, while I tell you a related story.

When the dishwasher repairman showed up on Monday, he’d already spotted the little hummingbird nest, camouflaged as it is in that dark, leafy corner.

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When I expressed surprise; his smile reached from the corner of his mouth to his eyes.  “I always pause to pray before I knock on a client’s door,” Mr. Nguyen told me. “I pray for peace. I pray for my client’s happiness, and for my own.” He went on to say that his customers are sometimes very angry when he first arrives: about being inconvenienced; about the news of the day; about the fact that he’s running behind schedule because he’s spent “too much time” helping another customer. “If I find something beautiful in nature before my clients open the door, I am happy. My smile is God’s smile, and that encourages them be happy, too.”

So magical, the ways in which we’re introduced to kindred spirits. New friendships are carried to us on iridescent wings, and nestle into the cushy-soft spaces of our hearts.

Posted in: birds, eggs, hummingbird eggs, hummingbird hatchlings, hummingbird nest, hummingbird nest 2015, hummingbirds, joyful noise, Nature, Orange County California, Walela Tagged: Allen's Hummingbirds, Aryana, Dishwasher repair man, Hummingbird nest, hummingbirds, Peter, Wendy

Present moment, wonderful moment

March 8, 2015 by Melodye Shore

Breathing in, there is only this moment…

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On Friday, Walela’s breathing was effortful…

Breathing out is a wonderful moment.

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The first egg in her second clutch.

If we are not fully ourselves,

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Two days later, Walela’s breathing is once again labored.

truly in the present moment…

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We breathe as one in this moment.

We miss everything. –Thich Nhat Hahn

Posted in: birds, eggs, hummingbird nest 2015, hummingbirds, joy, Nature, Photography, Quotes, Thich Nhat Hahn, Walela Tagged: Allen's Hummingbirds, breath, hummingbird eggs, hummingbird hatchlings, hummingbird nest 2015, mindfulness, photography, Thich Nhat Hahn, Walela

And now we are empty nesters

February 23, 2015 by Melodye Shore

It was still dark this morning when I snicked the front door open. Just a sliver, mind you–I didn’t want to startle the remaining hatchling, but after two solid days of pounding rain and intermittent winds, I worried that she might be cold and wet. But there she was: cozy as could be inside her dry little nest. How wise Walela was, to have built their cushiony home under a roof overhang!

(This set of two pictures comes from yesterday’s photo session. I didn’t get pictures of Jennifer in the nest this morning.)

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Whew, what a relief! With a steaming mug of vanilla-hazelnut coffee at my elbow, I posted a blog update, in which I predicted she’d fledge sometime today.

Not an hour later, my husband called me to the door. The nest was empty! I grabbed my camera and snapped a picture. Just one, inadequate though it might be, to honor the nest that served Walela and her brood so well.

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I lowered my camera to my side, and stood silent for a few minutes longer. And here’s where the magic happened, as it so often does when we’re willing to stay in the moment…

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Jennifer returned to the fuchsia plant and perched herself on the slimmest of branches! She must’ve sensed Walela’s whirring approach, because with one eye focused on me, she turned her head and opened her beak.

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I didn’t capture the feeding itself, but seeing as how I’ve posted so many pictures and videos, here and on Facebook, I’ll bet you can easily imagine it in your mind’s eye by now.

A small part of me is sad, of course. Who wouldn’t be, after cheering them on, for days on end? But more so, I’m celebrating. It rarely happens that both hummingbird hatchlings survive from egg to fledge, so I’m thrilled to know that Sunshine and Jennifer beat the odds.

Posted in: birds, eggs, Flight, hummingbird hatchlings, hummingbird nest 2015, hummingbirds, joy, Nature, Photography, Walela Tagged: Allen's Hummingbirds, baby hummingbirds, fledging, flight, hummingbird hatchlings 2015, magic, orange county, Walela

No ordinary eggs, these

February 14, 2015 by Melodye Shore

It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for a bird to learn to fly while remaining an egg.
We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad. — C.S. Lewis

Walela’s hatchlings are 15 and 17 days old now. *sniff* Time flies, and wow, haven’t they grown?

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When they’re not snuggled side-by-side in the nest, waiting for Walela to bring them another meal, they’re flapping their wings and wriggling precipitously on its edge.

This video footage shows them for the survivors they are. It ends on a really sweet note, but given all their daredevil aerobatics, it’s not for the faint-of-heart.

They’ll fledge within a week, so while these flight simulations seem scary to us as bystanders, they are critical to the hummingbird babies’ ultimate survival.

Here’s a shorter, tamer video, for the good eggs among us who might’ve watched only a portion of the first video through splayed fingers. So funny, the way they poke Walela’s chest with their growing beaks, as if to say, “Mom, Mom, is it lunch time yet? Mom?” And see how she preens their pinfeathers at the end?

Posted in: birds, C.S. Lewis, eggs, Flight, hummingbird hatchlings, hummingbird nest 2015, hummingbirds, Photography, Walela Tagged: c.s. lewis, flight simulation, hummingbird hatchlings, Hummingbird nest, hummingbird nest 2015, hummingbirds, photography, Walela

Rarely this happy to be wrong

February 10, 2015 by Melodye Shore

My heart was heavy when I positioned the stepladder beside the fuchsia plant in which Walela had built her nest.  Why had one of the hatchlings died, I fretted, and why hadn’t the mama hummingbird removed it from the nest?

Her nest was steeped in shadow, so I decided I’d wait to take pictures until later in the day. One last look, I told myself when I reached the front door. But when I glanced over my shoulder, I did a double-take.

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I couldn’t believe my eyes. I’ll check again later, I told myself. Wait and observe, as my friend Amy suggested. My knees were shaking when I climbed the ladder again a while later. Here, ensconced in a walnut-sized nest, the very essence of hope.

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My hands trembled when I pressed the shutter. Could it be?

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You tell me. 🙂

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Posted in: birds, hummingbird hatchlings, hummingbird nest 2015, hummingbirds, Photography, Walela Tagged: hummingbird, hummingbird hatchlings, hummingbird nest 2015, nature, photography, Walela

A birthday gift for both of us

February 9, 2015 by Melodye Shore

Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding.
the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated
as bird wings. —
Rumi

We celebrated my friend Karin’s birthday last Friday by getting together at my house for lunch. “A rare fusion of fluff and majesty,”  she’s a peony in my friendship garden.

One of the highlights of the afternoon: Seeing pure, unadulterated joy spread across Karin’s face as she climbed the ladder and peeked into Walela’s hummingbird nest.

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And look!  Walela took the spotlight in her evening wear, right after she left. Those iridescent feathers rival anything haute couture we might’ve seen at the Grammys last night. Agree?

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For reasons unknown to us, the hatchling to the right of the screen didn’t make it. That’s Mother Nature’s doing, and the undoing of some who are fortunate enough to witness miracles like this as they unfold. Of course I’m sad–who wouldn’t be? But I’m comforted by the fact that there’s a greater power at work here, with wisdom beyond our own understanding.

Shadows sometimes fall when we least expect them. But sure as daylight follows night, “Joy cometh in the morning.” Want proof? This little guy just opened his peepers!

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Posted in: birds, hummingbird hatchlings, hummingbird nest 2015, hummingbirds, joy, Nature, Photography, Walela Tagged: hummingbird hatchlings, hummingbird nest 2015, hummingbirds, Karin Klein, photography, rumi, Walela

Flights of Fancy, Wings of Joy

February 3, 2015 by Melodye Shore

“Walela” (Wah-ley-lah) is the Cherokee name for hummingbird.

There is something inside the soul of all of us that wants to soar through sunbeams, then dance midair in a delicate mist, then take a simple bath on a leaf. There is something in our souls that wants to hover at beautiful moments in our lives, making them freeze in time. There is something in us that wants to fly backwards and savor once more the beautiful past. Some of us are just hummingbird people. — Animal Speak, by Ted Andrews

Meet Walela, the Allen’s Hummingbird mama who’s taken up residence in the fuchsia bush beside my front door.

She’s sheltering two hatchlings in her feather-soft nest.

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And no small measure of joy.

Posted in: birds, hummingbirds, Nature, Photography, Walela Tagged: hope, hummingbird, hummingbird eggs 2015, hummingbird hatchlings, hummingbird hatchlings 2015, hummingbird nest 2015, joy, Walela

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