When temperatures drop, sweaters come out, the smell of evening fires mingles with the crisp in the air and where summer blooms once brought color to neighborhood streets, strands of twinkling lights take their places.
But at one Clovis home, the glow of red lights serve as much more than a signal of the coming holidays, working instead with purpose in an effort retain that which winter has undone.
For more than 25 years, Lisa Moore and her husband have shared their lives with hummingbirds, working to create a world within their yard that will attract the energetic little birds. It is a mission that has been successful, over the years drawing more of the colorful sugar seekers than they can count.
Lisa knows her annual visitors so well, she has nicknamed many of them and come to know their habits, preferences and personalities, studying up on their needs in the hopes of being a helpful hostess.
This year, Lisa's love and attention is rooted in concern for the many hummingbirds who have outlasted the blooms that give them sustenance, remaining in the area well past their scheduled departure date.
Now, confused by drought and strange weather, they are fighting to survive in freezing temperatures.
Lisa has asked for help from the community in the hopes that if people hang nectar feeders, the hummingbirds will have the resources they need to either migrate as they should have or at the very least, survive through the cold until the flowers return.
Having developed a system that works, Lisa's feeder stayed warm during this week's winter blast of ice and snow, providing welcome refuge to a juvenile male Rufous hummingbird who has been with her since the spring.
Featured as the topic of this week's In Search of Ponies column in the Clovis News Journal and Portales News Tribune, here you will find Lisa's guest blog, complete with tips and photos of her hummingbirds, particularly the tough little fellow she has nicknamed “El Nino."
Make sure to scroll down, check it out, enjoy, and this year, please hang some nectar with the mistletoe!
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