Hummingbirds are cranky little creatures. Miraculous, the way they fly, the way they look, the way they live, but ill-tempered. I've been feeding them for years now up at the barn where I work. They're used to me, order me around a bit, do fly-bys past my desk if I'm taking too long to realize the feeders have run dry. I'm used to it. Mostly.

Lately, with the days so warm and our winter weather seemingly trapped in Seattle, the hummingbirds have gone a little nuts. Three feeders hang from the eaves of the barn, eighteen feeding stations, but still not enough. Scores of hummingbirds arrived in the afternoon, all fighting for position. I should have been writing but I shot photos instead.

(My brilliant photographer friend, Diana E. Lundin, cropped this photo for me. Check out her amazing photo gallery.