Nature

Of Hurricanes, Hummingbirds, and Cardinals

58 Comments

For those of us who live on the East Coast of the United States, August has come in with a bang. Hurricane Isaias is ripping its way north. According to ABC, it sideswiped Florida and is now bearing down on North Carolina. (Fortunately my daughter and son-in-law live too far west to be bothered by the hurricane.)

Normally, Maine is too far north to be bothered by hurricanes. However, this one, forecasted to be soon downgraded to a tropical system, might very well come for a visit, bringing heavy rain to our area and the dreaded power outages in some places.

So, this afternoon I’ll be scrubbing buckets with lids and getting water ready should worse come to worst. So far we’ve been lucky with power outages and storms. Will our luck hold? We shall see.

In the meantime, here are Clif’s pictures of a hummingbird and a cardinal that visited our yard not long ago. They sometimes come at the same time, and Clif and I love watching them. The hummingbirds fly with a whir, and the male cardinal has one of the loveliest songs I have ever heard.

The pictures were taken with our not-so-wee camera, but the light was low, and the photos of the hummingbird are not as crisp as we we would like.

Never mind! I knew my blogging friends would enjoy seeing them.

And for those who live along the East Coast, stay safe!

58 thoughts on “Of Hurricanes, Hummingbirds, and Cardinals”

  1. Two of my favorite birds, hummers and cardinals! Those are fine photos, Laurie!

    Stay safe. I have been through a few east coast hurricanes in my day. I hope the storm bypasses you, or at least won’t leave you with power outages and downed trees.

  3. Fabulous pics of the hummingbird, Laurie. They’re not easy to photograph. I just love them. We’ll all keep our fingers crossed re this tropical storm. Tropical Storm Arthur a few years ago really did us in. Hundred-year old elms down, power out for 10 days for some people. Not pretty. We don’t want a repeat!

  4. You were so right to know we would enjoy them, and they are good shots. Trying to catch a hummingbird is not easy so you guys did good! I hope we get some rain, but the high winds, downed trees, and lack of electricity could pass us both right on by thank you very much. 🙂

  7. Our bird friends really add so much richness to life. Don’t Hummers just love red bee balm! Their squeaking and zooming around is wonderful to see.
    Hope we get through this storm without much damage. We could use the rain, but not the wind. Stay safe!

      1. Thank you, it looks like it is going to track up the Hudson Valley, so you might not get it too badly. We seem to be on the eastern edge. Now they are issuing tornado warnings – wind is the thing I worry most about!

      3. Thank you, yes, we came through okay. Loss power only for short periods, so no real hardship. The worse was it sent any unstaked flowers sprawling in my garden, so I had a devil of a time fixing that mess. It’s always something! 😉

  10. I love your hummingbird photos! 🙂 We were in Maine the summer of 2014 and a hurricane was approaching. We stood on big stone cliffs somewhere with the waves crashing, it was amazing. (No we weren’t near the edge of the cliffs!) We watched the fireworks in a downpour and were as wet as I’ve ever been. I hope you aren’t hit too hard and that your electricity and running water aren’t cut off!

  13. Absolutely love the Humming Bird … you did well! The flowers are very pretty too. Hope you don’t have damaging storms… we have had some wild winds here recently …to quote my daughter “I’m not a fan of wind.”

    1. Many thanks! Hopeful the storm won’t be too bad in central Maine. At least it’s a fast one. And I’m with your daughter, especially when the forecast is for “damaging winds.”

  14. Wonderful shots of the hummingbirds and it’s always wonderful to see a cardinal!🙂 I’ve missed having the hummingbirds for visitors this summer. I’m glad your daughter is out of the storms path and hope it weakens soon and you don’t have to worry about power outages.

  16. Lovely pictures! Not birds that come to my garden so great to see them in yours. Good luck with the storm.

  17. Thank you so much for sharing these bird images Laurie.
    Hope you have stored dry food and in tin just in case.
    Stay safe.

  19. Lovely images. 🙂 Just got word that everything is okay for us on the Eastern Shore. It really hammered the Delmarva peninsula, but they put the power lines underground in a lot of our area. The housesitter said all is well there and that the winds were expected to continue until about 2 PM (almost out of the woods). I did look at the power outage maps and the local news, and it looks like they got the brunt of it to the north of where we live.

    Stay safe.

  20. Friends in Florida and South Carolina managed to avoid any significant effects from the storm; I hope you do, too. It always amazes me how well the birds cope with most storms, although things were pretty quiet here after Ike. Even the fish disappeared; they could have been blown to Oklahoma for all I know. But things recovered — I hope you don’t need to.

  22. Ooh! How about that? Cheers, Clif! There’s a good deal to be said for blur in a hummingbird picture: you can sense the beating of the wings.

Comments are closed.