The Hummingbirds’ Gift: Wonder, Beauty, and Renewal on Wings
A perfect book to read in an outdoor garden where hummingbirds might be prone to visit.
Suggested Readers: Veterinarians and Animal lovers- Especially those who enjoy birds (particularly hummingbirds!)
Previously published as a chapter in the book “Birdology,” this short but gripping narrative follows Brenda Sherburn LaBelle in her tenacious task of rehabilitating injured and orphaned hummingbirds. These delicate little creatures, which are little more than feathers and air, require constant care and attention to survive. Joined by, and told from the perspective of author Sy Montgomery, the two women work to raise Zuni and Maya, a pair of bumblebee-sized Allen’s hummingbird chicks who were orphaned in unknown circumstances.
Readers quickly learn that raising baby hummingbirds for release into the wild is no easy feat- even in comparison to other bird rehabilitation efforts. Just as hummingbird parents would do in the wild, the two women religiously care for the chicks- feeding the tiny fledglings every 20 minutes and examining each bird with a magnifying glass for harmful mites. Armed with a moist Q-tip, Brenda gently strokes each bird’s beak and feathers to remove the miniscule parasites. One miscalculated move while handling the birds could burst an air sack, break a bone, or damage feathers. Being so small, any administered medicine can easily result in a fatal overdose. Many hummingbird rehabilitation efforts result in failure or death. In fact, in the book’s most intense moment, Zuni and Maya nearly die undergoing treatment for an extreme case of mites. This seemingly easy procedure requires a small application of pesticide on each fledgling followed by a quick dunk into a warm bowl of water. The shock and stress on the birds is abundantly apparent as they both become lifeless and unresponsive to feeding attempts. Brenda and Sy can only anxiously await for the birds’ eventual death or recovery.
As can be expected in any of Montgomery’s works, the naturalist’s appreciation, curiosity, and empathy for other living creatures is abundant throughout the book. So is her ability to fit in a rich variety of interesting facts, histories, and mythologies regarding these beloved avian icons. A surprisingly thrilling read, The Hummingbirds’ Gift: Wonder, Beauty, and Renewal on Wings is an excellent book (or audiobook) for anyone looking to spend a few hours lost in the miniature world of flight, feathers, and mysticism that has captivated humans since its arrival to ancient America.
Excerpt:
“The Aztecs believed hummingbirds, who are furious fighters, are reincarnated warriors. They’ve returned to life with swords as beaks, continuing their battles forever in the sky. Early Spanish visitors to the New World, seeing hummingbirds for the first time (they only live in this half of the globe) called them “resurrection birds.” They believed that anything that glittered so brightly had to have been made new each day.
Hummingbirds embody so many opposites that their very existence seems a miracle. They are the lightest birds in the sky- and also, for their size, the fastest. These tiny, fragile birds undertake perilous, long-distance migrations. The rufous hummingbird, often seen in Brenda’s yard, flies on gossamer wings from Mexican wintering grounds to nesting areas in Alaska.
And because of- not in spite of- their delicacy, hummingbirds can execute acrobatics that no other bird can approach. Among the world’s ten thousand avian species, only those in the hummingbird family, Trochilidae, can hover in midair. For centuries, nobody knew how they did it. They were considered pure magic.
So while Brenda and I knew that saving the nearly naked, bee-sized orphaned hummingbird babies who had arrived half-dead at her house before us would take a miracle, we didn't despair. We reckoned we already had plenty of evidence of miracles all around us. We just needed one more.
Now, more than decade after we took on those babies, as we struggle in a world battered by pandemic, human-caused climate disruption, and the politics of rage, I see the miracle yet more clearly. This is a gift that the hummingbirds gave to Brenda and me- a gift we want to pass on to you.
The resurrection of Maya and Zuni matters, of course, because these two little lives mattered. They loved their lives like we love ours, and their joy in life is no less important than our own. (In fact, though unlikely, it is not impossible that Maya and Zuni are still alive: at least one banded hummingbird- an individual of the species known as the broad-tailed- was banded as an adult in 1976 and recaptured and released, alive and healthy, in 1987.) That is gift enough.
But there’s more. Their story also holds a larger truth, like a parable. If we, mere humans, could help transform these pathetically vulnerable infants to rulers of the sky, then perhaps our kind can heal our sweet, green, broken world.”
PUBLISHER: New York : Atria Books, 2021.