Dave,
Last summer, we were sitting on our deck up north, and a humming bird landed right next to us on a limb, and we looked at each other for five minutes. First time it ever happened.
That happened to me once about 25 years ago. I was between "projects," was sailing a sloop on bareboat-charter out of St. Lucia, and had dropped anchor and gone ashore at Palm Island in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. While getting myself pleasantly "plastered" at the patio bar of the Palm Island Hotel, a hummingbird (which I later identified as what I believe to have been a Green-throated Carib [
Sericotes holosericeus]), landed on the branch of a vine growing next to my table. The bird was literally within the reach of my arm.
After five days on the water -- and with two tropical rum concoctions working their magic in my brain, I sat there for about five minutes staring this minute and beautiful bundle of energy in the eye. I remember that, for that brief span of time, I was absolutely mesmerized . . . and strangely at peace.
The bird lost interest before I did and suddenly flew away. But I remember the experience vividly to this day.
And here is a textbook photograph of the bird:
Some time later, shortly after arriving in Lagos, Nigeria, I was sitting in the patio bar of the Ikoyi Hotel when a small green lizard darted out of a hedge on my right and disappeared into a hedge on my left, pursued by a larger grey lizard with a bright red head. A few minutes later, the larger lizard with the bright red head emerged from the hedge on my left with the tail of the smaller green lizard dangling from its mouth. I remember thinking at the time that the hummingbird on Palm Island was a better omen. And so it proved to be.