The last 3 days with Dirty Pete have been nothing shy of amazing. Lots of sunshine to work with, great flowers and of course the reliable, intelligent and personable (lol) Dirty Pete. I can't say enough how special this bird is. I mean, they all are - even last year's "dumb bully", Mohawk - but Dirty Pete makes it all seem so effortless, that's it's easy to forget the ephemeral nature of these tremendous beings. Today was a stark reminder of that.
1 - May 19: A shoot that took about a half hour. Only.
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2 - May 20: Shot during a high wind gust. Dirty Pete has an unusual body shape - mostly because of a large chest - which is evident in this pic. He often doesn't look as "svelt" as other hummingbirds, but he has an interesting look.
3 - May 21: It was a long day working on this rose. The shoot was a good 6 hours. Dirty Pete was consistent and eager as per his usual, but the shot I wanted would take some work on both our parts. At about the 5th hour, I needed to change the feeder, so I waited until Dirty Pete fed, unhooked the feeder and ran into the house to clean it and put in fresh sugar water. While in the house I ran up to the studio to answer the phone forgetting about Dirty Pete and the feeder for about 5-10 minutes. Then I heard the sound that made my heart sink. I heard a loud buzzing near my head and realized with horror that I had forgotten the door open and Dirty Pete was in the house! Mumbling "Oh no, oh no." I glanced up at the sky lights, realizing that if he were to try to escape through them (a likelihood I feared) he most likely would die of exhaustion before I could get him. AND, even if I did catch him, there was no guarantee that he would live through it. Heart attack was a real possibility as well. As these thoughts raced through my mind, Dirty Pete tried to escape through a nearby window and began to panic when he hit the glass. I immediately opened the window half way, trapped Dirty Pete against the glass and he went completely limp. Not having time to think about whether or not he was alive, I tossed him out the window and into the air. He flew away.
After shutting the window and the downstairs door, it sank in how close Dirty Pete came to dying. Still in a bit of shock, I put out the feeder, and waited. After a long few minutes he returned to the rose. I count myself fortunate that he is still alive. And even though I always knew about not leaving doors and windows open, I am reminded of the importance of closing them. I'm just thankful that it didn't take the death of such a beautiful being to remind me...
4 - Finally, for those of you who really thought they were going to see the end of Dirty Pete, I submit the following.
Miss Julia Grey (she/her/Miss)
