Hummingbirds

There is a hummingbird nest outside a window at my husband's workplace. The nest looks too small
even for the tiny bird, and all you can see in the nest are tiny bits of white fluff. When the bird
hovers, wings nearly invisible, you can see the long beak and a bit of green on the tail.

When I was visiting a friend in Central Oregon's high desert, the females could eat peacefully
together at the feeder, but the males were territorial. Tiny birds zooming about, dive-bombing each
other, chittering angrily - so startling, I Almost tumbled out of the hammock.

In my office hangs a painting of a hummingbird, which says "Hmmmm." It was gifted to me by a friend
when he closed his office to join the Peace Corps. The day he got it, he was considering several
paintings by the same artist - butterfly, flower, hummingbird.... Trying to decide which one to
buy, he kept looking and humming to himself, "Hmmmm." Then he laughed, realizing what he was doing,
and bought the hummingbird.

In the deck of medicine cards used by my women friends and me, the hummingbird
symbolizes Joy.

My late husband, who was a mountaineer, fondly told a story about eating his lunch on a beautiful
sunny day above the timberline. A hummingbird, apparently never having seen a human before, zipped
up and hovered right in front of his face, staring curiously, as if to say, "What are you!?"

Copyright Sue Redding

See the
Hummingbird Painting