Visits

It is not allowed to have visits at home. I know. But these are very special visits. Regular ones.

The first visit I have in the morning is a hummingbird. It has been about a week that it comes every day, two or three times a day. In the morning it comes around 9:30 – 10:00. Now that it seems to know the area, it targets directly the Lavender flowers, get the pollen from 3 or 4 spots, and vanish. Usually it comes again around 4 or 5 in the afternoon. Sometimes I am very close, just behind the window, and I can see all the colors of his feathers. It has a red tommy, white collar and rather greyish/greenish body, it should be a male ruby-throated hummingbird.

The ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) seems to be actually the only one seen regularly in Maine. He migrates from the Gulf of Mexico to southern Canada and nests in breeding habitats primarily east of the Rocky Mountains. This bird is the only one that can fly backwards! And rubythroats can beat their wings from 70 to 200 times per seconds!! One says that they are extremely territorial and will come back to the same place from one year to the other. Well, for now, I am looking forward to welcoming it daily for the entire summer!

There is another visitor, a mysterious one… I just discovered that he is coming regularly… on the compost bin! It looks like he choose to install his nest in the brown dead leaves and Pineneedles. I usually hide the few things I collect from cooking, so I don’t think this is of high interest – otherwise I would have seen this upside down. But I have added some fresh green grass from the garden few days ago, which may make his nest even more comfy ! Since he’s coming during the night, I’m wondering whether I’ll install an infrared camera….

According to the web (finegardening.com), it can be skunks, opossums, rats and armadillos, as they are fond of the worms and insects buried in the pile. However, they also are attracted by dairy products, egg shells, meats and other things that I do not consume, so that might not be the right ones… Mice and rabbits may be the ones nesting just right in the middle of it… I shall get a nice pitchfork to turn the pile more often and activate faster the decomposition, and disturb them so they won’t like to declare residence!