Nature notes

This has been the summer of the hostas, the house wrens and the hummingbirds.
Maybe I'm just more aware of the hostas because I've planted so many of them this year, but those spikes of purple flowers, rising high above green or green-and-white leaves, seem to be everywhere this summer, after our cold, wet spring. What a versatile, hardy and attractive plant.
And a house wren has made a nest of twigs in a bird box in a white pine in my back yard. It has raised at least two broods, which it feeds constantly, chirping its cheerful, trilling song. I just took the portable steps out back to see if I could get a photo of the chicks. The momma wren was not at all happy: she rammed my head, twice, and hard. I apologized, replaced the box and retreated.
My hummingbirds were late to arrive but have been regulars at the feeder, often draining the whole cup-and-a-half. It's fun to watch the colorful, frenetic, bold little creatures perch on the feeder and on nearby white-pine branches.