this morning, I was just enjoying the quiet on my patio hearing the birds chirp, quail, watching the birds flying around and this hummingbird was checking out around my patio, kind of low and he came up around my head. I held very still, at first wondering if I should move to send it away, but I just closed my eyes and stayed still. It flew around my head, I could hear those wings just beating and I could feel the flutter of the breeze along my neck as he flew around my head. After he left, I just continued to sit and try to process. It left me feeling oddly calm and relaxed and even a slight shiver ran through me. So anyway, I don't know if I can put into words what this feeling was, but have you ever experienced some sort of unexpected, hopefully pleasant, encounter with nature?
I made a page about the time I had to help a whole family of baby quail out of our pool. Holding those tiny fuzzy babies in my hands was a moment I won’t forget.
I love to see the little baby quail. We had a lot of them at our house in Phoenix, but fortunately never had any incidents with them getting in the pool. I don't see as many of the teeny babies here at my house in Tucson, but have a few adults and juniors that pop over the wall.
I haven't had any experience that I can recall at this time but I just read another post about hummingbirds being more aggressive than usual and coming very close to people! Not sure why but it sounds like a neat experience that you had!
Lisa, when I was at my SIL in 2012 she had a bunch of hummingbirds that came to her hanging flowers & feeders on her patio.. they were amazing to watch and yup, hearing their wings flutter is amazing too!
That is SO cool! It's cool that you were able to stay calm and still enough for it to not be scared and go about it's business. I love watching hummingbirds! My Aunt feeds them and has them in swarms and I could just sit and watch them all day! My most unexpected encounter was one time when we were backpacking on Isle Royale (four hours North of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan) It is rugged. No roads, no houses, only one lodge near the boat dock, so it's as wild as I've ever experienced. Anyway, the first night after we'd set up our tent, two moose walked right into our camp. They are known to charge people if spooked, so it was really unnerving! We backed away from them, but the only place to go was over a short rocky outcropping and into a VERY cold Lake Superior. Thankfully, we didn't have to do that. We clapped out hands and they wandered off. I didn't sleep very well that night! But, it was so amazing to see them moose up close in their natural habitat!
They do really love my bottlebrush tree. I need to get a few more things planted around the yard for them. That’s a remarkable photo.
I think that probably counts as unexpected, but I’ll bet it wasn’t very pleasant ducks can be pretty big
I love hummers and that would be so wonderful to experience. I had many hummers at my feeder when we lived in Vancouver but there aren't as many out here in Kamloops. I put up a feeder a few days ago and will see if it attracts any. It's a pretty feeder so at least it's nice to look at as it shines in the sunlight. My most surreal moment with nature/wildlife was a few months ago when I had discovered a spot where the bighorn sheep graze. I spotted a few, stood still and took a few photos, slowly they became comfortable with me being there and they came closer and closer, more and more came and before I knew it, I was surrounded by about 30 of them, some standing as close as 4-5 feet from me. Many had their babies with them. I took some photos but had to wait until I could back up and get a little further away from them b/c my zoom couldn't focus that closely. That was so exciting. I was amongst them for about an hour or so.
That sounds so cool, might be a little intimidating being so close to those large creatures, but I bet it was amazing. I am kind of wishing I had something with a good zoom. I just use my iPhone. Somewhere still unpacked I have a 35mm with a zoom, but who uses film anymore? I do have a super old digital canon rebel which uses those big flash cards, but no zoom for it. Again still unpacked
