Minnesota Nice

One of my favorite birds at the lake is the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird.  A neighbor, Sandra, alerted me that a young hummer was flying around her flowers and being very unafraid of humans that were around.

So I headed over to their house and got some pictures of the young female practicing her nectar diving.

She was truly unafraid of us which made getting pictures a rare treat as they usually quickly scare away when I point a camera at them.

I had the shutter set at 2500th of a second and still sometimes was not able to stop the beating wings.

She didn't miss a blossom and went from one to the next and then back again.

What tipped us off that the little gal was young was that every once in awhile she had to stop and rest.  Sometimes it was on the flower itself.

Or sometimes she flew above to rest in the pine tree.  She is probably ten feet overhead in this shot oblivious to the intruding camera guy.

For a long while she sat in the mulch next to the flowers.  It had rained the night before and perhaps she was just warming up.

Sandra decided to try and hand feed the little thing when it stopped once for a break.  Do you see it sitting on the rock border of the flower bed?

I had my doubts that this would work but slowly she moved toward the little bird...

And sure enough, she took a dive into the blossom.

When she took off Sandra was able to direct blossoms toward her and she sipped from them too.

To say the least this is not usual behavior.  Thankfully the little creature was among friends.

I decided that we need to call Sandra the "Hummingbird Whisperer."  She was truly an example of Minnesota Nice, don't you think?