Rudy

<----This is Rudy.  I didn't name him Rudy because he's a Ruby Throated Hummingbird, nor do I usually even NAME the dozens of hummingbirds that hang around our feeders in the summer.  Puh-lease.  I DO have a life.  But this guy!  This guy is tenacious and unafraid!  Like the title character in the movie "Rudy", about the football player that worked hard to play for Notre Dame, despite his small size. Good movie, by the way.  That's what I thought of as I watched Rudy take over the feeder on my kitchen window.  He's small and young, with some down still remaining on his "butt".  At first, I called him Fluffy Butt.  But then, as I watched him, I knew he needed a more worthy name.  He wouldn't let any other hummingbird get close to "his" feeder. He even ran off the bigger males!  The longer I watched him, the more respect I had for this little guy.  Pretty soon, Rudy wasn't even flying off the feeder to defend it.  He would just sit on the perch, twitter and flap his wings at any other intersted hummingbird, and those guys took to the trees!  He was not afraid of them or us, standing at the kitchen sink watching.  I have never seen a male hummingbird just SIT on the feeder perch like that.  My most favorite thing to do in the summer mornings is to sit out on my deck (when it's not 3000 degrees outside) and watch all the hummingbirds fly around the yard.  Sometimes, they fly so close to my head that my ears tickle.  They'll be gone by early October and I'll clean the feeders and pack them away until spring.  I don't know if the same birds come back to the same place or not. But I'll be watching for Rudy all the same.