Holding Hummingbirds and Stinkhorns.

Two Hummers "DUEL!"

A few moments after I my lastt posting,  the hummingbirds began to behave "oddly".   I have never seen hummingbird mating rituals or war dances.  I simply assume when they dive bomb each other that they are not being "nice".  Otherwise, everything seems normal.

Loser is left "hanging".

But after all hat screaching yesterday, ( even the cat got up and noticed!) I watched as two birds mounted each other on the feeder.   I thought this might be a little late in the year for "love", but I guess that was not what was going on.

Literally!  Upside down and shivering. 

One of the birds had tipped the other one over!

He plops into my hand. 

The "loser" hung upside down for almost 30 minutes ( Maybe even an hour! According to Cheryl.)  We did not know what exactly was going on.   Finally,  I went outside to check him/her out. 

He didn't take long to get right again.

It was cold and rainy and the bird was shivering.   I thought I would help right it up, but instead it flopped in my hand.   They are very tiny.

Cute little thing. 

I warmed him up a bit and took several dozen pictures.   I don't get the opportunity to handle a hummingbird very often.   I think he was just exhaused from hanging and after a few moments, he flew off.

My warm hand must have felt nice.

My guess is that is how they do "battle".   Knock each other down until they are upside down.   Since they can not fly upside down, they either hang or, after a hour, fall.  Luckily for this one, I was there to catch it.  Even if he were to fall,  the landing would have been soft.  I have a pile of mulched up grass clippings there to soften the impact.

Misty morning bike ride.

Yesterday's Stinkhorn.  "Common"

After a misty bike ride this morning,  Cheryl and I checked out the Stinkhorn from yesterday on the bike trail.   Someone had knocked it over, but it had not changed much.   It certainly was not the veiled one as we had hoped.

Cheryl says, "Stinky!" 

Another one growing in our yard.

Cheryl noted that the smell of this one was slightly more "awful" than the dog stinkhorn.   When I gave it a sniff, it smelled like mushrooms dipped in polyeurothane!   ( A familiar scent from my woodworking days) Not very pleasant at all.

Some Dog Stinkhorns as well! 

Old one. Flies sampling the last spores.

New one, Still covered in "Spore Slime."

Upon arriving home, I found another stinkhorn growing in our yard along with several Dog stinkhorns in the neighbor's woodchips.  The Dog Stinkhorns still have the pleasant smell of watermellon,    These guys were particularly fragrent. 

As for the Common Stinkhorn,   it does not matter how it smells to us, only how the flies like it.  And, judging from the amount buzzing around these two, I'm assuming they find that smell irresistable!   Isn't nature cool?   Thanks for stopping in.