Not sure if I mentioned it before, but one of the things the owners of the house we are staying at asked us to do was to make sure that their bird feeders stay full. Unlike the bird feeders of my childhood, these feeders are filled with a sugar water mix.

Four of the five bird stations around the property seem to cater to hummingbirds, while the last is overrun with Bahamian Bananaquits. The hummingbirds number in the hundreds here and despite their populace, they maintain a certain grace and calmness as they flit from feeder to flower and back again.

The Bananaquits on the other hand act like a cross between some strung out, inner city gang and a bunch of those kids that road the short bus.

Now, long time readers may remember the infamous "Bananaquits Massacre" on board Dream Catcher, down at Hog Cay in the Ragged Islands a couple of years ago. I had accidentally left one of our overhead screens open and several of the colorful yellow birds came in in search of sugar while Amy and I were on the beach.

Unfortunately for the birds, the tribe was still present on the boat and Milo, Mila and Marley managed to apprehend and then devour 6 of the feather trespassers before we returned and closed the screen. Ooooops, my bad.

Fortunately, for the Bananaquits with us here at the house, the weasels are stuck behind a sliding glass door and lacking opposable thumbs, the carnivorous wickies cannot mount a serious offensive. The tribe does, however, maintain a constant vigil at the door in the hopes that somehow a window to the outside world opens up.

In what I feel must be an attempt at retribution, every so often one of the Bananaquits will land right next to the door and wait for a weasel to pounce. "POW" and then another weasel lays dazed on the floor after caroming head first into the glass.

The stunned wickie will lay there for about thirty seconds and then pick itself up and resume it's stalking position. I know it's not much, but it's better entertainment than whats on TV.

Be safe, it's dumb out there ....