Today, I was the unfortunate witness to something so terrifying I literally jumped in fear:
Hummingbirds.
Yes, you read that correctly.
Hummingbirds.
I am not afraid to admit it, those little buggers scared me. And you know what else? I wasn’t alone in my fright. Oh no. Two of my colleagues were witness to the same thing. Let me start at the beginning….
I work in a lab on the third floor of the enormous UW Health Sciences Building. If you know the building of which I speak you will realize how long it is. For those of you that have not had the pleasure of seeing this cobbled together monstrosity, imagine four buildings, each about a city block long, that have been welded together by sections of poorly designed breeze-ways. Now imagine an eleven story hospital attached to one end and you’re almost there. Just add the recently built surgery pavilion (another city block) and you’re home free.
On one side of this behemoth you will find the slough that connects Lake Washington to Lake Union. This makes for a beautiful view if you happen to work on the south facing side of the building. I work on the north face of the building.
My lab actually overlooks a rather large tree.
I believe it is native to Argentina.
As I said, the lab is on the third floor and our view is basically the densest part of the tree canopy. Sometimes we get to (more…)