When our good neighbor Mike came down the driveway hill for a chat the other afternoon, I noticed a dusting of yellow powder on the front of his tee-shirt, in his beard, and on the side of his cap.
"Been doing yard work, eh?" I said, and grinned at Mike's puzzled look. I pointed at the yellow sprinkle. "Pollen. Hummingbirds visiting my bergamot have it on their heads. Y'all been poking around the same bloom patches."
I'm not sure which neighborhood flowers accounted for the golden-yellow pollen, but my first guess would be lilies. Lilies are a good candidate since the blooms have deep throats and long, protruding anther-tipped stamens holding yellow pollen. A feeding hummer has to shove it's head smack past this pollen dispensary in order to sip nectar—thus becoming an inadvertent pollinator, while ending up wearing a gold crown.
I've been making a lot of hummingbird photos recently. Many of the tiny birds I'm currently seeing have pollen on their topknots. The shot above is an enlarged crop taken from another image, which itself was a slight crop from the original full frame. Quality is a bit on the "noisy" side. But otherwise, a decent portrait of a golden-capped ruby-throat hummer…or maybe just of a bird needing a bath.
10 comments:
Hummers like day lilies?? I've got a whole patch due to bloom soon. Should I be paying attention?
Great image, Grizz, despite the "noisiness."
Lily pollen is a bugger to get off clothing. It really stains. When we've gotten a bouquet with lilies, I have to remember to watch myself around the flowers if I don't want to make a trip to the laundry.
HI GRIZZ - haven't been able to get the humming birds here as of yet. At our other place they would be waiting by May 1st. I guess it takes time for them to find a new feeding place. I saw on,y one but it didn't get the word out. The picture you took os gorgeous, the colors are stunning, and caught in flight like that, I love it.
I found out the new folks in out place on The Trail have a young son, maybe three, and a dog too. I feel good about that. It is a good place to have a young boy and a dog. Good place indeed.
And our cozy bungalow home? Is just that, cozy, and home. I ma ion my way to feeling the blessings more than the losses. Skipp isn't far behind.
This humidity is horrid though so i am inside most of the time in the A/C. Another blessing, -A/C!!
Well, I guess that's all for now.
Love to you
Gail
peace....
Giggles…
I should have been clearer re. my lily guess. Tiger lilys and the most of the asiatic hybrids have nectar tubes located on the petals; orientals, trumpets, and daylily types usually lack this tube—they have pollen but not nectar. While a hummer might give one a look, they'll go away disappointed. I was thinking about tiger lilies when writing. Sorry to get your hopes up.
Scott…
Trust me…the uncropped (well, barely cropped) full image is really crisp; I currently have it as my desktop. But this serious crop—maybe 15-20% of the image—came out way better than I expected for noise. It's just my perfectionist side mouthing off. :-)
I agree re. the was lily pollen sticks and stains, and I've got it on more than one good shirt over the years—not to mention sport coats and dress jackets, pickup seat-covers, and a favorite silverbelly 5X beaver Stetson which I had to ride a nasty-tempered ol' buckin' bull to win. Like to never got that hat cleaned! Actully, IMHO pollen in general is stuff worth watching your way around.
Gail…
I keep taking one hummer shot after another, sorting through images in different lights—morning, afternoon, side, back, etc.—and I'm hoping one of these days I'll hit it perfect where everything is smack perfect—the bird crisp and sharp, in good flight posture, and the colors glowing like neon. So far I'm managed one or the other, but not both…but if I ever manage, I'm telling you it will trump this image ten times over!
That's really great about the family who bought your old place. But the best news is when you say you're feeling more blessings than losses. We should all be so lucky, always. Life is always a balancing game, and any day you can honestly say I'm on the positive side of the ledger, you've been truly blessed and given a precious gift.
Yes Grizz, our lilies are out here too and the pollen on their stamens is absolutely impossible to remove if it gets on T shirts. It is a deep, intense yellow so I think you have discovered the culprit.
What would I give to have exquisite birds like that in my garden.
Weaver…
Yes, pollen can be especially tough to get off some fabrics. When I go prowling around some of the little prairie patches near here, I often return with my clothes pollen-streaked, depending on what I've been bulling my way through.
Hey, I'd share some of my birds if I could. These little hummers are like flying jewels—almost too pretty for words.
Grizz
John and I closed on the house tonight. We will be in and out all weekend working in it. Feel free to stop by the house. We are lookingforward to learning more about the area from you. We have seen beavers a few times now!
Susan Meyer
Susan…
Hey, that's great. I'll be in and out this weekend myself, but will try and drop over if I see you around. Looking forward to meeting you folks in person.
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