BASICS


BASICS: "Hummingbirds.....where is the person, I ask, who, on observing this glittering fragment of the rainbow, would not pause, admire, and turn his mind with reverence..." (J. J. Audubon).
This is a blog about my summer life at the Baiting Hollow Hummingbird Sanctuary, at my winter garden, Calypso, in the Bahamas, and aspects of life in general.
This private sanctuary is now permanently closed to the general public, as a result of a lawsuit brought by a neighbor. Only my friends and personal guests may visit (paul.adams%stonybrook.edu).

Friday, February 5, 2016

Hummer feeding at red powderpuff

One of the prettiest hummingbird plants here at Calypso is red powderpuff (Calliandra hematocephala). The flowers looks rather like those of our Long Island Pink Powderpuff "Albizia julibrissin" which is also attractive to hummers, but are red, and the plant is a bush not a tree. If I sit near this for a few minutes a hummer is sure to soon visit the flowers. In this video initially there's a yellow butterfly on the flower, but it's quickly chased away by the hummer.


Here's another clip, at a different flower, and 4X slo-mo.



From my seat near this bush I can also see this view:


One can see the red flowers of a hibiscus, and on the right the massive trunk of a royal palm. A foxtail palm is in the background.and there are yellow butterflies flitting around. Royal palms are my favorite tree (together with live oaks, which do not grow here) and you will be seeing more of them - I have quite a collection at Calypso. Here's another nearby garden scene, with pink and red hibiscus, white bridal bouquet frangipani, and in the background Casuarina glauca (a suckering type of casuarina that unlike the much more common, and highly invasive,  Casuarina equisetifolia, does not produce the annoying seeds, and is more attractive, with darker, denser foliage.


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