Hummingbirds

[Above Photo: One of the Camden/Rockland windjammer fleet. What, too lazy to hoist the foretopsail?]

12 September 2021

After dropping my friend, lobster roll in hand, at the Bangor Airport yesterday afternoon, I drove to Blue Hill. It was early enough at 4:30PM to take Tern (our speedy open boat) back to the island but I opted for civilized pleasure—a hot shower—and spent the night at my nephew’s spacious vacation home onshore.

Thinking I’d beat the anticipated wind if I left early, I set out from Bucks Harbor at 8AM into a churning maelstrom. The southwesterly wind was recorded at 20mph with gusts to 27 and the sea was choppy with many steep waves. I was never in danger but got soaked and had to travel slowly, with frequent rapid decelerations as large breaking waves would threaten to bury the bow. It was like a teen-age rock ‘n roll party, with unpredictable twists and bumps and grinds, during which the parents, trying to lower the hormone level, sprayed the overheated youth with a cold hose. That image suits me in this situation, because from adolescence to the present I have always loved challenging Nature—camping in snow or thundershowers, kayak-surfing the waves of a northerly storm blowing into the harbor, sailing solo on San Francisco Bay on a really blustery day, harness attached, with too much sail up (intentionally). It’s exhilarating. It also may have been counterphobic, at least in the beginning, as I was fearful of a sailboat tipping when I was quite young. Today I motored slowly out; upon at last reaching the wind shadow of Beach Island, the waves vanished and I could accelerate into the harbor.

The single female hummingbird drinking cane sugar at my feeder all summer was, in fact, hatching a brood. Now 4 tiny hummers are playing: dancing, hovering, charging each other, and driving one another away from the feeder as they will do in earnest when fully grown. That it is play becomes clear when at times I can see all 4 happily feeding simultaneously. They are preparing for their migration. A few facts. Hummers are pugnacious and have an incredible physiology to support their temperament. Their feathers weigh more than their bones. They have a total of 9 air sacks within their body. Typical heart rates are 1200 beats per minute. Wings can accelerate to 70 beats per second. By body length they migrate farther than any other bird; these will soon head south to Mexico.  They also are incredibly swift, capable of flying faster [again, by body length] than the space shuttle at re-entry. I’ll miss them and hope their winter habitat is welcoming.

Two days ago we were discussing what to wear for a hike around the island when suddenly my phone began to explain the concept of layering. Jesus! I think it is Google Assistant. The creepy thing is that “she” said, “I listen occasionally, not constantly.” Big Sister. I couldn’t determine from Google how to slay this interloper into my privacy. Approaching the Bangor Airport yesterday, we were talking about Francis McDormand in “Nomadland”. I said, “Wasn’t she terrific in Fargo? And William Macy.” My friend said, “He’s shunned now, something about hitting on a younger man. Oh, no, it wasn’t William Macy, it was Kevin Spacey.” My phone then piped up, ”Hi, it’s your Google Assistant. Can I help you with anything?” OMG, if this gets out, William Macy can sue us for libel!  It is pretty unnerving, as large corporations insinuate themselves into our personal lives. Who hasn’t looked up an item for sale and then been deluged with ads for the same and alternatives for weeks afterwards? It makes me want to scrap my Smartphone and get a simple internet-free phone, checking my emails once or twice per day (or per week!). What’s the hurry? Great music was composed and performed, great novels written and read, great refrigerators purchased and stocked, great ribs marinated and grilled, all pre-internet. I’ll drop by the AT&T store and have them seal my Assistant’s ears and lips.

Some Republican politicians are so lame—criminal, really—, trying to restrict the vote and to punish those who demand mask and vaccination mandates. People, including children, are dying. There is a solid and growing body of scientific evidence supporting the safety and efficacy of masking (hard to be unsafe, I’d think) and vaccines. There is strong evidence that hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin are not helpful and are often dangerous. What is the anti-science about? If we eschew authority, why not all authority, including that of the conspiracy-generators? People, scientists, dedicate their lives to studying and learning, testing hypotheses for their validity, etc. These are not, most likely, stupid or corrupt people. Why would anyone trust the opinion of a person with no legitimate scientific credentials or someone with something to gain from expressing a certain bias, such as the Koch brothers’ petroleum positive “climate scientists” or those wanting to pander to Trump’s political base?  As a student of human behavior, I can generate a number of ideas but I am still not satisfied with the explanations.

It is lovely here today.  I am eating salmon salad on a wonderful NY bagel. It feels strange, after having a lively guest to talk with for 5 days, to be the only initiator of and respondent to conversation. I am, despite occasional romantic fantasies to the contrary, a social being.