The Hummingbirds Gift: Wonder, Beauty, and Renewal on Wings By Sy Montgomery

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Hummingbirds fascinate people around the world. The lightest birds in the sky, hummingbirds are capable of incredible feats, such as flying backwards, diving at speeds of sixty-one MPH, and beating their wings more than sixty times a second. Miraculous creatures, they are also incredibly vulnerable when they first emerge from their eggs. That’s where Brenda Sherburn comes in.

With tenderness and patience, she rescues abandoned hummingbirds and nurses them back to health until they can fly away and live in the wild. In The Hummingbird’s Gift, the care that Brenda provides her peanut-sized patients is revealed and, in the process, shows us just how truly amazing hummingbirds are. The Hummingbirds Gift: Wonder, Beauty, and Renewal on Wings

Click here to hear my thoughts on this book over on my Booktube channel, abookolive.



This is a heartwarming story in which the author, beloved nature writer Sy Montgomery, headed out to California to help a wildlife rehabilitator care for two orphaned hummingbird babies. It has all of Montgomery's signature prose - it's inviting, it's heartfelt, it's downright lovely. But given this book is basically a jazzed up chapter from a previous book, I think the choice to make this its own book is a blatant cash grab. Outdoors Nature, Nonfiction
June 22, 2021:

Today I was able to go inside my library for the first time since March 11, 2020. This is one of the books I was able to take off the shelf with my own hands for the first time in over fifteen months.
I will always remember with fond gratitude the measures the library employees took to keep us supplied with reading material. They provided curbside text-and-go pick-up as well as home delivery. (I know! Swoon! Can you believe it?) And they lengthened the loan period to 42 days. They also added a huge trove of e-books and audio books to their online resources right after the pandemic struck.
Those I Love Our Library yard signs now mean more than they ever did before. We are blessed. Outdoors Nature, Nonfiction Twenty minutes, every twenty minutes, scheduled and so important that Brenda Sherburn LaBelle set a timer to feed Maya and Zuni. Originally these twin Hummingbirds were not given names as their survival was not certain. They came to Barbara through WildCare, nearly dead.

”They were not moving or responding” Brenda said.

The challenge to save these two began. Only when there was a chance this brother brother and sister, born two days apart, might make it, were they named.

Have you ever sat and watched a hummingbird? In my neck of the US we are blessed with only one species of these beautiful birds, the Ruby-throated; just this one of approximately 240 (as quoted from this book but other sources claim 330 types) all in the Western Hemisphere. Would you have the patience, twenty minutes, to watch one this long, let alone feed one for days, starting early morning until nighttime to keep them alive?

If you have ever been mesmerized by the behavior of this jewel of a bird this is a story not to be missed. I thought I knew a lot about hummers but I learned so much in this less than 100 page gem. From its dedication To mothers everywhere, who understand to its last page it was not only delightful but also an insightful read as told by Sy Montgomery.

” Hummingbird rehabilitators are unsung heroes.”

An added note. Where did I find this book? Browsing the shelves of my local public library. Thank you to our librarians and staff. Outdoors Nature, Nonfiction previously published as a chapter in her 2010 book birdology, sy montgomery's the hummingbirds' gift is a slender work focusing, mostly, on the rehabilitation of a pair of very young hummingbirds. there's a little too much cutesy anthropomorphizing, but montgomery's awe of the little resplendent marvels is endearing nonetheless. for longer-form (and more thorough) writing about hummingbirds, be sure to check out fastest things on wings: rescuing hummingbirds in hollywood and/or the glitter in the green: in search of hummingbirds. Outdoors Nature, Nonfiction A disruption of our routines is typically unwelcome. Yet, that is what we've been coping with lately, from the over year-long confusion created by Covid-19 to the abnormal extremes of weather. Disruption has become the new norm. Coping with a succession of crises make this slender book by tireless nature writer Sy Montgomery a timely balm. Her writing is lyrical. At the same time, she reveals astonishing scientific observations that provoke a sense of wonder many of us have not felt since childhood, when each day offered unexpected discoveries and questions. Disruption, she reminds us, can result in rich emotional connections. This is the story of the disruption and close bonding that occurred between a hummingbird rehabilitator and the author, and two hummingbirds only days old who came into their lives.

This book chronicles her stay with Brenda Sherburn La Belle in 2010. Brenda is fostering a pair of newborn hummingbirds brought to the WildCare animal shelter in San Rafael, California. Montgomery recalls, “I was fearful at first that my touch alone would break them. Everything about a hummingbird is diaphanous. Their delicate bones are exceptionally porous. Their legs are thinner than toothpicks; their feet as flimsy as embroidery thread.” (p.2)

The birds must be fed round-the-clock, every 20 minutes. (I thought fostering kittens was tough. They need feeding every 2 hours!) A tiny catheter replaces the needle in a syringe and the droplets of food – a mix of crushed fruit flies and nectar – placed in the eagerly awaiting beak. Brenda gently blows a puff of air toward the bird, simulating the movement of air created by the mother's wings before landing. It will be weeks of feeding before the birds can even be encouraged to acclimate to a larger shelter, and finally set out, still protected, in her garden.

There, cornflowers, penstemon and columbines are humming with bees and hummingbirds of various types. “Hummingbirds are less flesh than fairies. They are little more than bubbles fringed with irridescent feathers – air wrapped in light.” (p.17) To achieve that miracle, they need to feed almost constantly and are aggressive guardians of individual patches of the garden. It will be weeks and weeks before Brenda's babies will be confident and skillful enough to be released into this space, both eden and battlefield.

Montgomery's book includes color photos of Brenda's babies as well as a variety of hummingbird species. She notes that the birds, which had been named Maya and Zuni once their survival seemed likely, would not develop the colors typical of Allen's Hummingbirds until next spring. Until then, they remain an undistinguished brown.

The hardback edition of this book is beautifully constructed with wide margins and photos reproduced on glossy stock. It is appropriate for both adults and children. I am reading this because it has been selected as our local library's “community read” of the month and the author will be speaking via Zoom.

NOTES
Indian Paintbrush, Fuchsias and Salvia (Autumn Sage) are mentioned in Brenda's hummingbird filled garden, all adapted to the southwest: https://www.thespruce.com/plants-for-...

Brenda's studio and garden in northeastern California: https://yampapath.com/ Outdoors Nature, Nonfiction

4.5 my only complaint was to short! Amazing network to keep these flights of fancy going. Listened to audio, loved the end as you hear their flight, I was in the garden listening to the real thing at the same time. Outdoors Nature, Nonfiction The Hummingbirds' Gift: Wonder, Beauty, and Renewal on Wings, by Sy Montgomery, is a slim little book that looks at the rehabilitation of two young hummingbirds by a professional rehabilitator, with some interesting tidbits on hummingbirds and their feeding habits, flight patterns, and the biology of their feathers and internal systems. This book was certainly not all-encompassing; it is more a reflection on the fragility of the birds and the amazing rehabilitation work that they require to survive. The book also (whether intentionally or not) puts emphasis on humanity's troubled relationship with the natural environment. These rehabilitators have about a 46% chance to save a hummingbird; most do not make it through the process. Even so, the intentions are pure, but it is sad to this reader that more is not done at an institutional level. True to the American way, this book looks at individuals doing their best and ironically draws attention to the thousands and thousands of others who do not act or care. Although incredibly admirable and inspiring, the actions of a few individuals will not make a difference, and the issues they face may be a slowly dying hummingbird population, which they will literally viscerally experience as rehabilitators. Institutions and organizations that are funded and supported are required, as is a greater push to improve global environmental standards.

That tangent aside, this was a fairly good book, if a little bit on the basic side. It was short, sweet and over in a flash, much like a hummingbird flitting by. An easy read for those looking for books on the environment and nature, this will fascinate many and is certainly worth a read. Outdoors Nature, Nonfiction I have never seen a hummingbird. I had to look up these beautiful beings once I started reading this book. And now I wish I could go to Ecuador to see them hum their incessant rhythm of life. Having read some of Sy Montgomery’s other books, I knew that I was in for a treat. And it was. This is the story of a little miracle - of how two orphaned hummingbirds are slowly let into the wild.

What’s so special about it? Plenty if you consider that baby hummingbirds need to be fed every 20 minutes. Yes. Every 20 minutes. Imagine Sy and Brenda, the caregiver, timing the feeds, ready with a little syringe so that they don’t miss any of the feeds. Baby hummingbirds are incredibly fragile and that’s the miracle: that they survive this fragility, this vulnerability, and go on to be owners of the vast, luminous skies.

If that’s not a message for today, then I don’t know what is.
Outdoors Nature, Nonfiction I learned a lot about these magnificent creatures as they spend time in rehab, getting fed every 20 minutes. I felt like the writing was a bit too dramatic though. Outdoors Nature, Nonfiction I love Sy Montgomery's writing so much, her intimate address and her deft touch describing non-human creatures (though she also has a gift for characterization, as her portrait of her friend, the hummingbird rescuer who is also a gardener and sculpture, is also vivid). This is a slender book that I read at one sitting, but isn't that perfect for a description of tiny, whizzing, jewel-like birds whose bodies are mostly made of air? Montgomery joined her friend to nurture orphaned hummingbirds. They need to be fed every twenty minutes, and if the rescuer feeds them too much, they could pop! She packs the book with fascinating information about hummingbirds' anatomy (the iridescence comes from feather physiology rather than color!), migrations, speed, wings, and more. She also creates a suspenseful narrative about these two tiny baby birds and the many hazards that they face, from mites in their feathers to hummer competitors who will drive them off their food and make them starve. Montgomery connects the difficulty and care that goes into nurturing these tiny wondrous creatures with the effort and love necessary to repair and sustain our planet. Outdoors Nature, Nonfiction