You can see his long tongue here, on the spoon, as he is eating ground up houseflies (his first protein, before we went out and caught some grasshoppers).

     We've determined that he is a male blue-throated hummingbird.  His right wing appears to be damaged in some way and he can't fly - he sits up very tall on his perch and flaps his wings, but nothing happens.

      So, we've had him a week now (a hummingbird biologist at the university says that "we must be so proud" because most people can't keep a hummingbird alive in captivity).  He goes to work with Don and Helen every day, where they feed him often.  In the afternoons, his sits near the living room window of the apartment where a hummingbird feeder attracts many of his kind - he hears and sees them and flaps his wings.  We don't if this is cruel torture for him, or delightful pleasure.  We don't know what the long-term plans for him are, but we are enjoying his presence while he's with us.

The zoologists among you can just log off now, because the remaining photos are all of flowers.  There is an orchidarium near our apartment that sponsored an orchid show.  So, on a rainy weekend afternoon, we went.  It was one room, filled with orchids.  And they were lovely: tremendously diverse and healthy and lucious.