Day 4 Evening - Lucifer Hummingbird

Leaving the hotel at 4:20 pm, we drove South to Turkey Track Road, when we turned right and drove up the road into Ash Canyon.  At the end of the road was Ash Canyon Hummingbird Sanctuary our destination.  We left the van with our beers in our pockets and walked into the garden where we saw long lines of lawn chairs and multitudes of bird feeders and many people already there.  We were greeted in hush tones by Mary Jo, the portly owner of the place and Cookie, her parrot.  Since the prime chairs were already occupied, we were ushered to the back area, where we sat down and munched on our burritos and sipped our IPAs as we watched the many birds coming into to have their dinners too.  It was a gourmet cafeteria for the birds.  There were oranges cut in half, mounted on trees, tins of grape jelly, special homemade suet, feeders of Niger seed, feeders of sunflower seeds, a log with holes drilled out and filled with peanut butter, and many, many hummingbirds feeders.  The dinner birds were plentiful with especially beautiful Scott’s Oriole, Black Headed Grosbeaks, spotted towhees and even green tailed towhees making appearances.  Bob thought it was kind of weird, all of us sitting in chairs lined up, hushed and peering off at the feeders.  As the light dimmed we moved closer to where the Lucifer Hummingbird was supposed to make its appearance.  We’d seen Broad-billed, Annas, and even Rivoli’s Hummingbirds, but everyone was here for the the late dusk appearance of the Lucifer’s Hummingbird.  As we sat there, I wrote a poem:
      Waiting for Lucifer
      All the people lined up,
      Bins in hand.
      Feeders full of sugar water.
      We wait.  Everyone hushed and still.
      Here comes a noisy Ladderback Woodpecker,
      Shhhhsh!
      The light is growing dimmer.
      There is a broad-bill glowing a red beak, purple, blue and green.
      We wait...
      There is a settling into evening, all creatures growing still.
      Will Lucifer comes?
Well, they did.  I saw the female, but didn’t see the male.  There were three lines of people in front of me.  I was sorely disappointed.