Hummingbird Feeders to Attract the Littlest Birds!

If you've read my post Hummingbird Love a few months ago, you'll be glad to know that the eggs hatched, grew up, learned to fly and hunt for food. Although, we haven't tagged the hummingbird family that lived in one of our Feijoa trees (bush-like size right now), we do believe that the family is still living nearby.

You see, my plan was to add the feeder just when they were about to fly off. It was a strategy that I had hoped would bring them back near their nest. No, I wasn't hoping for them to reuse the nest since I've read somewhere that when the babies leave, they do not go back. However, I'd be lying if the thought didn't enter my mind, at least for Adelaide, the mom. We thought she may want to lay new eggs there. As we were turning on the solar power, the babies, whom we fondly named Lulu and Kenny, were in the verge of flying. I knew it was just a matter of time. True enough, a half hour later, my daughter, who was watching them closely, yelled out and said she thinks Lulu is about to fly.

I took my camera to take photos and video. I stepped closer to the nest and voila! She was flying. Although, the wings were not rapidly moving as the mom, Lulu flew about 7 feet high! Adelaide, being a protective mom, saw it and flew nearby to coach her. It was a sight to behold. The next day, about 4pm in the afternoon, Kenny flew away. We did not see this happen, but we came back he was gone. He survived a very windy night alone, so it was with mixed emotions to see him gone. That morning, I checked up on him and said to him to go and fly like his sister. Adelaide was watching both of them, following the Lulu while waiting on Kenny.

A collage from the nesting, laying of eggs, hatching, and then when they left the nest!

Anyway, we felt the void for days. I checked the nectar feeder that we placed about a couple of feet away from the tree, it seemed like a hummingbird is feeding from it, but I am not so sure since I we haven't seen any. After a while, the feeder looked half empty, but still not a sight of the hummingbirds...until one day, we saw a small one! We suspect it was one of the babies! I'm sure the family feeds from it, we just don't see them often.

They love our feeder, they keep coming back! There was a time there were three of them eating at the same time. :)

Twist ties help secure the glass feeder from the shepherd 's hook! Here's one territorial hummingbird watching the spot!

Since then, we have had sightings, and I have been replenishing the feeder once a week . About three weeks ago, I got this suction hanger from Amazon. I placed it on the kitchen window. I read that you should put more than one feeder. I wanted to see them close by, so the kitchen window, right above our kitchen sink, was the best place for the second feeder. Since then, we have had sightings daily! It always takes my breath away to see these little birds come by to drink from our nectar feeder.

Durable Plastic Suction Cup Hanger with our little friend, whom we named as Ruby!

Solar Power - April 30, 2015

Wow, it's been over six months since my last post! I've been meaning to post dozens of times, but, as they say, life happens and some more pressing things need to be taken care of.

After our landscaping project, we added solar panels. We've been considering switching to solar energy for years, but years ago, it was not affordable for us. Nowadays, you can get them at a low monthly fee and get homeowner tax credit when you purchase vs lease the panels.

I've done some research and talked to a few companies and compared their programs. In the end, we opted for SolarCity. I will not delve into what deal we got or how much money we are paying for because our needs are based on our consumption, which may differ from others. What I can say is that we opted for 17 panels, although we qualified for more. We decided to do fewer panels so that when we move in the next couple of years, if we sell or rent out the home, it wouldn't be too costly.

It has been six months since our installation and we have been very satisfied from the initial discussion, to the design phase, installation, and finally activation. It took us only a couple of days from the installation to final inspection and activation. Our SolarCity agent said that was his record one.

What took a while is our back and forth communications with our homeowners' association. Fortunately, I found some helpful articles online about protecting my rights to install solar panels. In other words, they cannot say no to solar panels. I did not even have to wait for their so called architectural review to get them installed. I did my part, I provided them the design, which, they approved two months later! Imagine if I had waited. The better part of summer when solar production is high would have passed!

Anyway, enough of my HOA rant. For the most part, I love HOAs. They look after our best interest and the community as a whole. They also ensure that our properties are well maintained. The only part I don't like is bureaucracy and politics, which, again, I wouldn't delve too much into either. :)

Here's the picture of our home on the right side and a picture of our SolarCity meter.We're still connected to the electric grid as a back-up in case of some kind of malfunction or if we don't have enough power stored to use.  Our system has not failed yet-- knock on wood! We've also been producing enough for our needs. So, I can say with all honesty that we are doing better. Comparing our electric bill from before, it is much better today with solar.

 I would urge any of you to join in and help improve our environment by going solar versus fossil. You can email me if you're interested. I'd be honest, I will get a referral fee if you sign-up with SolarCity through me, but I wouldn't do the talking, I'll let the agent give you the rundown and I can provide you with my personal experience. No BS! Anyway, my email is borlonganventures@yahoo.com in case you're seriously interested. If I refer you, your first month is free!