Not so bright? or just curious?

Yesterday evening, Hubby and I were sitting out on the deck after dinner when along came a hummingbird!

I was so excited to see it because they've been rare visitors this year, despite my always full feeder.

Well, this little guy hovered away from the deck looking at us for a few seconds and disappeared. I quietly got up and moved a candle I had lit and set on the deck railing to ward off bugs, figuring maybe the flame and smoke discouraged the little hummer. I saw him sitting in an evergreen right off the deck corner, waiting.

Before I even had a chance to sit down, he buzzed himself up to the petunias in the flower box, and visited down the line. From there, he moved on to the next box, visiting the petunias there as well. Then, to my amusement, he investigated the decorative flag hanging nearby before finally approaching the hummingbird feeder.

At this point, I was standing about 4 feet away, still as a statue, barely breathing. Well, it was really all I could do not to laugh out loud at this little guy. Instead of heading straight for the feeding portals like most hummers do, this guy tried to feed from the painted flowers on the body of the feeder. Not convinced by checking one, he checked all the flowers on the feeder before he finally went to the portals and drank. And yes, he tried all 4 of them before zipping away to check out the seed feeders down the rail.

Truly, I was giggling by this time. What a funny little guy.... Was he just "not the brightest hummingbird in the flock?" Or was he just really curious about all the colorful things?

I watched in horror as he approached the FLAME of a nearby tiki torch.... he stopped SO close to the flame, I was really afraid he would be burned, but he squeaked and flew away. Hubby and I sat there and laughed about this unusual visit and wondered what the heck he was thinking....

This morning, I saw a hummer- it HAD to be the same little curious, confused guy- zip into the area. And his first stop? A bright red cardinal at the seed feeder. ROFL.... I can only imagine what the cardinal was thinking....