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).

Monday, April 22, 2019

Hummers and Century Plant

Century plants (Agave americana) are abundant on Eleuthera and when they flower (once in their lifetime, and usually after 30 not 100 years) they attract hummingbirds. The flower stalk is about 30 feet high and the plant dies as it flowers. Here's one along the oceanfront


Here's a general view of the flower


and here are 2 clips of hummers feeding at it:




A second Century Plant is blooming in the back garden at Calypso, and a juvenile male Woodstar hummingbird is guarding it:


In the final clip, this young male attacks a hummer that starts feeding on "his" flowers:


Saturday, April 6, 2019

Great Lizard Cuckoo eats Cassie's Chick

Sad news. This morning at 7.30 the chick was on the edge of the nest and I filmed the mother feeding him. 



Then I filmed the chick:


10 minutes later I returned to the nest, but it was wrecked, the chick was gone, and a Great Lizard Cuckoo was in the tree a few feet away, still swallowing something.