[birdky] birdky: Hummer

 Our little rufous hummer survived two successive nights of zero but did not 
apparently have the energy to feed yesterday morning.  We watched it come to 
the feeder for its usual check out, then come back but not really attempt to 
feed.  It did this several times, then flew down into the bushes.  We waited 
for an hour, peeked into the holly and went to work with heavy hearts.  We came 
to watch at Noon with no sighting.  After work I found it huddled and not 
moving next to the trunk.  We called Bob Sargent in Alabama who thought it 
might be in a torpor state, then put a flood lamp on it since we did not want 
to take the chance of breaking its feet by removing from the branch and did not 
think we could cut the branch.  When it did not move by late this morning, we 
went out to try to remove the branch and it fell into the snow.  We still gave 
it another 90 minutes in the house, but its little tongue was sticking out of 
an open beak and there was no sign of life.  

As some have said, nature is cruel, and surely this winter weather has been 
especially so.  At the same time, I believe that the only reason to care for 
and protect our environment is because we believe in more than an impersonal 
and cruel nature.  My tribute to our little hummer, written the day it was 
banded (November 24, 2002), follows:

                The Feather of God
This morning I held a hummingbird in my hand
Light as a feather, the Presence of God
This morning I caressed a hummingbird
I felt the hum of her fast-beating heat
The tiny hum of the Presence of God
This morning I chased a hummingbird feather
Did I capture the feather?
Nay, Rather I was seized by the Immanence of the Divine

Ginny Eklund
Danville KY

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