My Story
For as far back as I can remember, our family has always fed hummingbirds and made our backyard a hummingbird safe sanctuary for our animated companions.
After my childhood home burned to the ground in the Thomas Fire on Dec 4, 2017 and losing everything, I decided to help my saddened heart by putting my energies towards something positive.
My passion has always stemmed and rooted from my hummingbird experiences, which began at my childhood home and more recently has expanded to a condo setting, where I am also a proud home owner.
In the last 4 years I have had the privilege of witnessing two hummingbird nests being built on a single bulb hanging from an outside light wire at my condo.
I was able to observe the stages of a female hummingbird looking for a location to build her nest, (even though at the time I thought I had a lunatic hummingbird on my hands) gathering nesting materials, (watching the nest be built slowly, piece by piece) all the way from brooding to fledgling.
As you can imagine, I had numerous questions to research. I was watching this phenomenon right before my eyes! I had never imagined in a million years that I would witness the step-by-step development of a hummingbird nest being built in my own backyard, especially twice in one year! I thought this only happened on the National Geographic channel.
The more I became aware of my surroundings, the more I realized spotting hummingbird nests is much easier than I believed. I helped to train my mother’s eye and she was able to spot a nest in her Jacaranda tree the very next year!
I want to share my knowledge, photos, videos and tips on attracting hummingbirds to their backyards that I have gained over the years with other hummingbird enthusiasts.
My Work Story
Since my passion is hummingbirds and their habitats, I was naturally drawn toward the profession of landscaping.
I entered Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and majored in Landscape Architecture but quickly learned that I might have a vision, but failed to have the necessary basic drawing skills desperately needed for this field. This was a huge disappointed for me. I switched majors, which is a very difficult thing to do. In doing so I still kept the knowledge and experience I had gained from my Landscape Architecture classes to guide me in my future endeavors.
In 2007, I graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in Southern California with a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts and a minor in Psychology. The timing of my graduation was terrible. At that time the “Great Recession” was just getting underway. Times were tough for all millennials graduating in that time period. Many moved back into their parent’s home, including me.
Fortunately, I was able to secure a low paying job in the jewelry business. While jewelry did intrigue my interest, and I learned a lot, jewelry just simply was not my passion.
After 5 years I had the opportunity to change jobs, which I did. This current job is not where my passion is either, but it pays the bills and is just enough income to break even.
A couple of years ago (right before the fire) my father decided to make a website to provide information about his passion, physical therapy. His website idea piqued my interest and I wondered how I could do the same thing.
I decided to give this online website a try and I figured this would also give my father and me the opportunity to bond and keep ourselves in check on our progress with our sites. I always felt intimidated with the web and didn’t know where to start. It is nice to begin on a new journey with a warm familiar face.
This rekindled my passion for hummingbirds and how to attract them, protect them, feed them, and apply my landscaping knowledge towards building hummingbird sanctuaries in my backyard or garden.
I purchased the domain name hummingbirdbliss.com in 2018 to officially start creating website content and dive into the technology world. I needed tremendous assistance with the technical aspects of developing a website. Luckily, my father had already researched and tapped into the guidance of a couple of guys that teach website building and marketing.
My goal is to be a content creator and start my own internet business. I want to share my knowledge and information about hummingbirds and how to easily incorporate them into our everyday lives.
Hummingbird Bliss is a passionate hummingbird enthusiast website, conceptualized and implemented, to teach and inform curious minds about the behaviors, characteristics and life lessons of a day in the life of a hummingbird.
