Hummingbird Festival

Saturday we spent the day at Ijams Nature Center in Knoxville for their 3rd annual hummingbird festival.  We are usually looking for something family friendly to do on our weekly Saturday family day that is cheap/free and outdoors if it isn't too hot/cold.  The place was huge and very pretty.  They have lots of trails and an exhibit center and a kids play area and a lake and a boardwalk.  For the hummingbird festival, they had vendors setup and food and of course hummingbirds.  We got to see the banding demonstration where they tag hummingbirds and then let them fly free.  They migrate from here all the way to South America and Mexico.  We had a laugh about it afterwards because these hummingbirds were in little pillowcase-like bags.  The man would pull one out and then do various checks on the bird while explaining what he was doing and discussing different characteristics of the bird.  Then he would put the tag on them and someone else would take the bird and release it.  I'm pretty sure the hummingbirds DO NOT like the hummingbird festival.  Any way, it was neat to watch.  We actually have a hummingbird feeder (and a hummingbird) on our front porch; the bird visits daily usually.  I just think they are the neatest things. 

Bagged and Tagged!

This was a part of the children's play area.  It was like a little fairytale land with these things all over the place and little wooden playhouses.  It was cute!

Totally unrelated, but I just noticed.......THIS IS MY 1000th POST!!!!!!!!!