Our "pets"

[Virginia]

We have a hummingbird feeder right outside our kitchen window which has been taken over by honeybees. So I put a small plate of the liquid hummingbird food on the ledge hoping that that would allow the poor hummer to get to the feeder. Well we have hundred's of honey bees now! They are so neat to watch! They drain that plate in a very short time, so to refill it I just open the window and pour the stuff back into their dish! 10 - 20 of them will land on my hand while I pour it. Kind of like they are saying "thank you!" I have not been stung at all and when I am done I just gently shake my hand and they fly to the dish, it is so cool. I only wish I knew where their hive(s) is/are as there are so many of them. They are actually funny too. There were two of them eating and two more actually landed on their heads and were perpendicular to the bowl eating, like some kind of gymnastic event! Then some will crash land in the middle of the fluid and others will fly in and try to help them out. I have had to push a lot of of them out of the stuff up to the edge of the dish. They kind of shake themselves off and start feeding again. The few yellow jackets and wasps that show up, well, I give them a bit different "treatment." Deer, turkeys, bear, timber rattlers, fox, raccoons, opossums, all kinds of birds and now honey bees, ain't it great??!! I actually had a little raccoon come up and eat some bread out of my hand - they are so cute!!! He took the bread in his front paws, sat back and ate it.

Virginia, happy girl living on Strange Magic Hill!

[Carol Ann]

Welcome to Carol Ann's world, but I remove the feeder when bee's show up. I can sit under the shade tree and hummingbirds will just hand on me to say thank you

Now my favorite time is winter when every bird in Missouri shows up for a hand out