bird babies

A few months ago at Walmart:

Studoc: "Let's get a hummingbird feeder."

Me:  "Why?"

Studoc:  "It would be fun to watch the hummingbirds eat and fly around out on our balcony."

Me:  "Yeah, but then I'll get stuck having to refill their sugar water all the time.  I've got enough to do taking care of our son."

Studoc:  "I'll refill it.  Plus, (pointing to son) he'd like watching them fly around out there, too."

Me:  (now feeling like if I say no I'd be denying my child a simple pleasure) "Well, okay.  As long as you promise you will be in charge of refilling the sugar water.  They are YOUR bird babies."

Studoc:  "Okay!  You'll see, you'll like watching them, too."

Enter the bird babies

A few weeks later at Walmart:

Studoc:  "Let's get another hummingbird feeder."

Me:  "What?  Why?  We already have one!"

Studoc:  "I have to refill the feeder like every other day.  If we get another one, a bigger one, I won't have to refill as often."

Me:  "I don't want another one.  Especially not a bigger one.  Then we're gonna be those weird people with tons of bird feeders on their apartment balcony."

Studoc:  "It won't be that bad.  Haven't you enjoyed watching the birds?"

Me:  (sigh) "Yes."

Studoc:  "Then let's get another one and we'll have even more birds.  It'll be fun!"

Me:  "Okay, but I seriously draw the line at 2 feeders.  Seriously.  Any more feeders and you'll become the crazy cat lady's male equivalent, only with birds."
Studoc:  (laughs and fully appreciates the Simpsons reference)

Enter the super-sized feeder IN ADDITION to the smaller one

We get so many hummingbirds

For reals

Apparently hummingbirds are quite territorial.  They constantly fight to be king (or queen) of the feeder.

It's normal for us to watch 8-12 birds twittering about out there.
Studoc had fun numbering them in this picture.

View from my "spot" on our couch.  I have to admit, they are fun to watch so closely!

Here is a video of the balcony bird babies and their daily antics.  If you listen closely, you can hear them tweeting.  If you watch closely, you can see flashes of a smaller black dot dash around.  That's the bee that tries to scare the birds away from the feeder.  If you wonder who wins out in a bee/hummingbird showdown, the bee usually does!

Truth be told, I enjoy watching the birds.  And Studoc has stayed true to his word about being in charge of the refills.  I think he likes having other things to do and set his mind to other than med school stuff all the time.  It's good for him.

A few days ago at home:

Studoc:  "Even with the 2 feeders, I have to refill them every 3 days.  We're going out of town for a week soon, and if they run out of food I've read they may not come back."

Me:  "Honey, I really don't think we should buy more feeders.  We've gone out of town before and they came back."

Studoc:  (thinks for a minute) "Then I'll try to fashion another feeder out of Rubbermaid tupperware we're not using."

Me:   "Oh, dear...."