It is so cool to have them light on your hands while you hold a feeder... just wrap your fingers around the feeder and sit very still... the wind from their wings comes first and then the little talons....
It would be a thrill after which I could die a happy woman, for sure!
I had one brush against my hair after he had hovered at my ear for quite a bit -- that touching will never leave me!
they are brave little creatures.. doing battle with the bigger birds who want to perch on their feeders, or fighting for the sugar water with the wasps.... I have 4 feeders near my medicine wheel... amazing energies from the little things...
Hooded orioles like the sugar water here, and it's kind of funny watching how exasperated the hummers get when the orioles land on the feeders. Luckily, the orioles don't tarry long or make a big thing out of it -- they come, they go, quite quickly.
I worried about the bees, to tell the truth. They seemed as if they were going to sting the hummers. We got those bee caps to offset it for a while, but then, the orioles couldn't drink through the bee caps. (The orioles, in contrast, just stick their beaks into the holes and pull out the bees, with no ceremony at all.)
I read they can eat twice their weight a day... and gain 40-50% body weight for their long migrations.... interesting little things... speaking to my spirit of late..... much to learn from them if we open minds/hearts/spirits.
I hear you, DC! It's so amazing how hard they work, from morning to night! They have been great companions and messengers to me as well during this last trip to california. I'll always have them in my heart and being, now.