Another Favorite for a #featheredfriday !

This is another post that was provoked by #thoughtfuldailypost, created by @wesphilbin when he got a bug up his butt to create something positive for all to use. You can see his original post here.This post hash tag can actually be used with quite a variety of posts, because as one of my favorite excuses is that this causes me to give thought, and in my mind that can be anything!

So, my friends, this is another one of my favorite feathered friends: the ruby-throated hummingbird. I used to sit on the porch in the mornings and watch these most absolutely amazing micro sized birds come in to get the nectar from my star of Jasmine plants that I have lining my front porch which go up to the awning, as they are about 10 feet high.

An average size for a ruby-throated hummingbird is around 3 to 3 1/4" long and has a wingspan of around 3 1/2" to 4" . These birds are roughly anywhere from 2 to 6 g (way "weigh" less than 1 ounce!). The female hummingbird is also a little bit bigger and heavier than the male. The bill on these little ones varies anywhere from 3/4" to 1".

Adults are usually a metallic green above and grayish white below, with near-black wings, with slight variations.(wikipedia)

These little guys beat their wings at an average of around 75 to 80 beats per minute, while hovering, and you can definitely hear them coming in when they come to visit. It's a very distinct fluttering sound.

Two more things that I learned about these fine feathered friends is the just as the male bee, the male hummingbird only services (gives a little nookie) to the female, then goes away. He actually has nothing to do with building the nest, as the female does all the work of building.

So I spent many years working in an outdoor office, and there have been two instances of concern. both were in the process of relieving myself. I have been 4' away from and face to face with a rattlesnake and not known it until looking around as I was relieving myself, and the other was one day when I was in my 10 wheel dump truck in a field, and with no one around, stepped out onto the step outside the cab of the truck. After starting to relieve myself, a ruby-throated hummingbird must have thought that I was some kind of hummingbird feeder! I said to that bird, "Um, no I don't think you want to do this, it is not the nectar you think it is!" And I managed to shoo him away from total disaster, in actuality, for both of us!