Tag Archives: hummingbirds

day 252

What are you doing this evening?

Loading up the hummingbird feeders one last time in 2025.
red-throated hummingbird migration 

one
last sweet nectar feast
before
fledglings and seasoned fluttering flyers
take to the wind led by stars and ancient instinct
due south
to winter in the Panamanian tropics
along the Gulf of Mexico
until the spring
when they return to nest

~kat

The long hot days of summer seemed endless when we were in the thick of it, wilting in the heat and humidity day after sweltering day. And then, just like clockwork, the days grew shorter, the air snapped crisp and cool, and the trees turned from green to shades of gold, red, and amber. Just like that the hummingbirds drained my nectar feeders in a feeding frenzy to fatten themselves up before heading south.

I will miss them. They’re happy chirping outside the window while I work. But winter is coming. And winter is no place for a delicate hummingbird to be. As sure as their radar directs them to the tropics, I rest in the assurance that they will return come spring, like they do every year…like clockwork.

I wonder what it is like to trust one’s instinct so doggedly that taking a thousand mile trip into the unknown known is just the annual thing one does when the temperature drops. I wonder if I have instinctual, intuitive capacity hidden somewhere inside me. I wonder if I surrendered to it, trusted and had faith enough that I would at long last find my way to nirvana or utopia, or whatever destination it is that we all seem to be driving toward. Somewhere along the way from birth to these many decades later, I’ve forgotten how to fly. The truth is, I have forgotten I have wings. How grateful I am for the lessons of my little friends. In fact I feel a little flutter in my heart just thinking of it!

much love, peace, and fluttering glimmers to you!

~kat ✨✨✨💚💚💚✨✨✨


day 217

fully nested

the phoebes are nesting once again
a brood to fledge before the fall
the dawn is filled with phoebe calls
“feee-bee! feee-bee!” their sweet refrain
a brood to fledge before the fall
the phoebes are nesting once again

~kat

This evening I noticed a phoebe bird perched atop the nest crafted this past spring. I read that Phoebes actually have more than one brood a season. First to arrive in early spring and last to leave in mid-fall to winter in Central America, this pair of phoebes has been choosing the light fixtures on our house to nest for several years now.  They are hearty, resilient little birds. Over the years we have watched them persist in the face of inclement weather and wind. Their young have not always survived but these little birds rebuild again and again. It is said that they symbolize patience, persistence, and new beginnings.  An inspiration to us all to press on toward our goals even in challenging times! 

I don’t have a photo of this budding brood yet… (posted above is the same nest from earlier this year) but it is certainly a glimmer of hope. What I also have is a tiny clip of the hummingbirds jousting just outside my window while I work. Today started started and ended in glimmers. I hope you too have many days like this as well! 

Much love, peace, and multiple glimmers to you!

~kat ✨✨✨💚💚💚✨✨✨


Today’s Poetry Form: the Biolet

The rhyme scheme of the biolet thus can be expressed as ABbaBA (with the capital  letters representing the repeated lines).  Length of each line can vary but works best when it follows an iambic cadence.


NaGloPoWriMo 6 April 2025 ~ glimmer day 95



watermelon candy

a splash of summer
mocking fresh with “flavored as”
sick sweet imposter

~kat

I will spare you the commentary I had started to write about what’s happening in the world. Suffice to say, it’s feeling less and less safe everywhere these days…unless you’ve been living under a rock or digesting too much Fox, you know.

I promised myself when this year started, I would look for glimmers everyday to keep me grounded.

Without further delay, please join me in welcoming our first returning hummingbird back from his long journey from Central America. He’s a handsome dude. And I admit his arrival was a surprise! He started to tweet loudly from the feeder stand outside my window until he got my attention, and then proceeded to glare at me. You see, I was planning to put feeders out this weekend. My bad! He was clearly not happy that I had not prepared for his return with the fanfare he deserves! Namely a smorgasbord of sweet water dispensers.

I stopped what I was doing…working on a spreadsheet…I needed a break anyway…to get feeders out. I hoped he would forgive my error and not move on to another feeder somewhere. He made me sweat for two days. That’ll teach me! And then this morning there he was. Hanging out on the perch, leisurely taking sips of nectar.

Thank you universe for today’s glimmer and reminder that we need to take care of one another.

Much love, peace and glimmers to you.

~kat✨✨💚✨✨


NaGloPoWriMo 6 April 2025 prompt: Today’s prompt (optional, as always) veers slightly away from our ekphrastic theme. To get started, pick a number between 1 and 10. Got your number? Okay! Now scroll down until you come to a chart. Find the row with your number. Then, write a poem describing the taste of the item in Column A, using the words that appear in that row in Column B and C. For bonus points, give your poem the title of the word that appears in Column A for your row, but don’t use that word in the poem itself. I chose line 7…Watermelon…Splash…Mocking. Click on the link above to see more.


signs of the season

signs of the season

bare tree limb tips dipped
in green, white and lavender
sunlight lingering into the evening,
peepers peeping at dusk,
worms slithering from the damp dark,
bees, butterflies, spiders and ants,
buzz, flit and creep, a hint of wet clay,
fading leaves and first blooms in the mist
and this, the first hummingbird sighting
at the nectar jars outside my window
it’s official...spring is finally here

~kat

NaPoWriMo2021 - Day 13 Prompt: This one is short and sweet: write a poem in the form of a news article you wish would come out tomorrow.