if you know my husband, you know how well he can start up a hobby or passion and pretty instantly become really good at it. for instance, just after we were married, we decided to take a pottery class together. it was my second pottery class and his first. by the second week of class, kenny was throwing pots like he'd been at it for years. even the instructor, who was a lifelong potter, was convinced he'd taken pottery classes before. since moving out to where wildlife is more than grackles and neighborhood cats, we've become pretty amazed at the different birds we get to see up here. and kenny has taken to learning more about them.

because of his new hobby, hummingbirds have taken over our back yard. that is, until i cooked for them.

a few weeks ago, kenny decided to hang a few hummingbird feeders outside our enclosed back porch window. he started out with just two, and worked his way up to five feeders. now there are only four as one was overtaken by mold and insects. the hummingbirds came in droves for kenny's homecooking (sugar water: one part sugar to four parts water). we had to fill each of the feeders at least once a day and probably could have filled them twice a day.

last week, i thought i'd fix up a batch for the birds. we were using a box of instant nectar that my mom had given us (she gave up on feeding the hummingbirds in her back yard). i followed the directions on the back of the box, not realizing that there were other directions on the side of the box that were different (using less water).

when kenny filled the feeders with my nectar, we noticed the hummingbirds didn't come back as quickly. then we realized they hadn't been there all day. the nectar stood in the feeders for over a day.

they didn't like my cooking.

yesterday, kenny refilled the feeders with his homemade concoction. we've seen a few hummers back at the feeders, but not the dozens we'd get at a time. perhaps they'll return slowly, just like they came at first.

kenny took a few dozen pictures of hummers at our feeders just to get one in flight. he got this pretty cool shot after 15 minutes of clicking away: