My 'Ode to the Hummingbird'

By Jeff Orvis

Sometimes when my mind gets all jumbled with thoughts of an uncertain future, of the trials and tribulations you can see on almost any TV news channel or on dozens of other channels that feature what they call “reality TV,” it's often a good thing to stroll out onto the porch and ponder true reality.

Besides the occasional car or truck that drives by, there are often countless minutes of uninterrupted peace and quiet out there. I should say that the quiet is sometimes broken by the sounds of any number of birds of various species that seem to like our little corner of the world.

When I first moved here, Mom had a bird feeder for the general population and a smaller clear plastic globe for the hummingbirds. This spring, once the grass had started to turn green, I quit filling the bird feeder. It had been a popular gathering spot for noisy sparrows and other birds and I figured they could fend for themselves naturally, at least until fall arrives. But something told me I should maintain the hummingbird feeder all year long. And I'm glad I did.

I had never seen a hummingbird until I moved back here. There were some weeks when we might only see them once or twice. But this spring and summer, they apparently like my concoction of colored sugar water and are frequent visitors.

As I've been watching them, I came to realize that there's a lot to admire about the simple hummingbird. You might remember that a popular singing group of the '70s paid tribute to these little creatures. The memory of Seals and Crofts sometimes invades my mind when I'm sitting out there: “Oh hummingbird, mankind is waiting for you to come flying along.”

There are apparently several different species of hummingbirds and I don't pretend to know which one we have in our neighborhood. What I do know is they are some of the smallest birds in nature. It has been said that they are the only bird that can fly backward and they sure are fast! One article said they could fly up to 34 mph. They can also hover before darting away.

Using my sometimes strange writer's imagination, I like to think that they can communicate with us. There have been times when the feeder is getting low and I look out and there's a hummingbird hovering at about eye level and I swear he is looking at me, trying to tell me to fill the darn feeder!

Despite their speed and mobility, you would think that because of their size, they would have a short life span and might fall prey to some other wildlife. But some data indicates they may have a lifespan of five to 10 years. Although I have no way to identify them when they visit, there's one that is about two-thirds the size of a gold finch. Mom used to call him a “bully bird” because he would seem to think the feeder was his exclusive property and would chase away another smaller bird that tried to feed.

This season, I've noticed that he often has to stage air wars against honey bees that also seem to like the feeder. But he seems to have the ability to win out in the end, chasing away the insects and lingering around the feeder for several minutes at a time.

One of the things I'm looking forward to when I get to Heaven is getting answers to several questions on nature. I'm sure I'll be surprised at some of them. One of the questions I have is how, despite their incredibly small size, are hummingbirds able to migrate from Iowa to Mexico and beyond each fall and return to the same place in the spring. The hassle of commercial flight is something I'm glad I don't have to experience very often. Yet these little critters do it every year, without having to deal with the TSA or flight delays.

It's a tough life living in nature. But sometimes, when I realize that hummingbirds don't care about the trials of A-Rod, war, terrorism, the economy, politics or even reality TV, they lead a pretty charmed life.

Just keep that darned feeder filled!