Chico

I took the kids to the nursery today to check out some plants and get some seeds and supplies.  Hannah has been helping me read the seed catalogs, and both girls are beside themselves waiting until it’s time to plant.  Every day:  “Is it time to plant yet, Mama?  Can we plant our seeds today?”  They’re almost as bad as me.  :)

We found some seeds and checked out the koi pond and were looking at plants when I suddenly saw the unmistakable zipping flight of a hummingbird.  I pointed it out and we all stopped to admire it.  A passing nursery worker, hearing our exclamations, said, “Oh, yeah, that’s Chico.  He lives here.”

We watched as Chico zoomed about, then landed on a tree near us so that we could admire him.  Then he zoomed about some more.  Even Sim was watching him, pointing and saying, “See!  See!  Bird!  Tweet!”  

We noticed that Chico seemed to like the witch hazel plants, which are blooming and quite sweet-smelling.  Hannah and Naomi conceived a plan:  get in among the witch hazel plants, hold very still, be very quiet, and wait for Chico to land nearby so they could see him up close. 

So there I was, standing next to Sim and the cart, watching the girls hiding out in their bird blind (and making sure they don’t do any damage to the plants).  It took a while for Chico to return, but when he did, our patience was rewarded.  He landed on a tree near them and hung out for a while, then flew up in the air, hovered, and flew back and landed on the same perch again. 

Once he finally left again, I called the budding birders out of the witch hazel and to the checkout.  Who knew that a trip to the nursery could be so awesome? 

OH!  AND they have big ol’ tractor-type things that drive around, dumping compost here and there for the nursery workers.  We got to see some of that, too.  All in all, a very rewarding trip.