Why do I find it so miraculous that we have hummingbirds in January?Maybe because their colors are so spring, and summery, unlike the chickadees, wrens, and nuthatches who wear winter colors all year.
Maybe it's because they seem so delicately slender, unlike the round bodies of the above mentioned birds, who puff up their feathers against the cold while perching on the lilac outside my studio window.
Or maybe I find hummingbirds miraculous because they are miraculous.
Today I heard a hummingbird calling me. Come outside! It's beautiful! It's January! It sounded like this: tchew tchew tchew tchew tchew! tchew tchew tchew tchew tchew! tchew tchew tchew tchew tchew! *
* Ruby Throated Hummingbird call from Field Guide to the Birds of North America. [illustration copyright: karen ann chalupnik 2009]
i love hummingbirds
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