Just in case you need this

Via chibird, which has many other adorable things like this.

Hummers

No, not that kind of hummer, you pervs.

A few days ago a friend sent me the link to a live webcam trained on the nest of an Allen's hummingbird they've dubbed "Phoebe".

According to the website, Phoebe has possibly been coming back to the same spot in Southern California every year since 2007 (they are not absolutely, positively sure it's the same hummingbird, but they think so). She has four nests in a rosebush, and she chooses among them every year, sprucing up the one she chooses with more dryer lint and cobwebs, which is pretty much what hummingbirds make their nests out of because wouldn't you, if you were a tiny fairy bird?

The nests are also tiny, for example:

via
And for another example:

via
The cobwebs make the nest stretchy and easy to fix as the growing chicks squirm around trying to find a more comfortable spot. Phoebe feeds her babies flower nectar and bugs, which she regurgitates into what the website calls "a kind of buggy stew".

Apparently they'll also eat this stuff, found by my friend Jeremy at his local grocery store in Tennessee:

Now THAT, I'll admit, sounds randy.

UPDATE: Both hummer babies have fledged, but Phoebe's not done for the season. She's got one if not two more rounds to go. Check back in periodically.

is it just me?

manakin photo from NSF, credit Brant Ryder; Zorak from the Sega forums

let me just get this... ah, that's better.

Thanks Arbroath

the Transformer Owl

via

is a riot.

butterfly flutter by

Penguins chasing a butterfly around their enclosure.

Thanks Geekosystem

it's so freaking hot out

via, from top: free-jokes-online, codlib, actinglikeanimals, windycityparrot, zack stern's flickr, arbroath

this is just silly

(click for bigification)


The indietits have been on hiatus since 2007 but there are still a lot of gems in the archives. I am especially fond of the foul-mouthed Yelling Bird. Thanks to everlasting blort for giving them a recent mention.