The house on Pine Cone Lane in Westcliffe is less summer getaway and more summer camp.
John Creed has brought his childhood friends here for years to walk the slack line, play ladderball, hike and hang out.
And now, John’s adult summer camp has a new activity: birdwatching.
“I just figured out a way to make something that would work and here we are,” Creed said.
John’s cabin has always been swarmed with hummingbirds. While they were fun to watch from afar, John wanted a closer look.
“I saw a thing on TV a little documentary about them which was really interesting...but they had really up close slo mo pictures and I wondered how you could get up that close,” he said.
So he did a little research and found a few pictures of a new kind of hummingbird viewer. He calls his version the “Hummviewer.”
It consists of a welding mask, some fake flowers and rubber tubing. He glues the fake flowers onto the welding mask and fills the tubes in the middle with homemade nectar. The birds were instantly attracted.
“They look at you too...they come up and look and say hey is this okay?”
John's idea isn't original. Since publishing this story, 9News became aware of a similar wearable hummingbird mask. The creator says he came up with the idea in 2008 and still produces and sells the mask. You can learn more here: http://www.heatstick.com/_eYe2eye.htm
John and his friends sit on the deck for hours, watching the hummingbirds swoop in to eat all afternoon.
John is thinking about selling his version of the mask. If you’re interested – e-mail hummviewer@gmail.com.
