João Silvestrini is a retiree who lives alone in Barretos, Brasil. Seeking to expand his circle of friends, Silvestrini recently joined Facebook. Although he lacks human companions, he clearly has a close relationship with the local hummingbirds. In this video he invites a wild swallow-tailed hummingbird, Eupetomena macroura, into his kitchen for a morning conversation over breakfast.
The hummingbird in the video is a juvenile, so it does not yet show adult plumage colours and patterns. The bird’s mother seems to have disappeared, leaving her youngster safely under the wing of its adoptive mother, Silvestrini. Here’s the video he captured of this bird, on the one month anniversary of when it began visiting him:
Here’s a translation of Silvestrini’s dialogue in the video, which was originally published on Facebook:
Hi! Come here! Let’s make a video here, come here, here! Come close to talk here, Ok? Come, let’s talk a little bit, sit here. Want a little drink? Let’s get close to the machine again, shall we? Look there! We’re filming. That’s it, perch on my finger, that’s it! Here.
This little rascal calls me all day long, he goes around, around, around me. I’ve been letting him do this for half an hour. This is a chick. His mother introduced him to me here in my window, and left him there by the clothesline. He is used to this, he comes to call on me all the time.
Isn’t it? Come here, sit on my finger. Come on! Come a little more. There you go! Let’s make most of the film. Shall we? That’s it, drink very close to the camera. Want more? Don’t you? I’ll save it for later. Okay, okay, saving it.
I leave it here, then he comes around me, circling me, so I get up and serve him.
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When she’s not out birding, GrrlScientist can also be found here: Maniraptora. She’s very active on twitter @GrrlScientist and sometimes lurks on social media: facebook, G+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
