My bird watching for Lent this week was Anna’s Hummingbird.  We are fortunate to have these wee jewels present all year round.  My feeder’s nectar may freeze, but it doesn’t seem to be enough to send them to find warmer winter homes.

Part of the joy of writing poetry is in using everything at your disposal to guide the reader.  But the double joy for the writer is in first being attentive to whatever is the subject of the poetry.  One quick look usually isn’t enough.  You have to hang around, ponder, consider.  Is that a frivolous waste of time?  Yes of course, and absolutely not!

Do a double take before you read this one, look for the title of the poem at the bottom…and then work your way up…

When I first became curious about hummingbirds I looked for them in flowery places and I certainly found them there, but not as often as I expected.  By accident I spied one perched high in a tree. Now, when I hear this bird’s scratchy call, or the tick-tick I’ve come to associate with its presence, I’ve learned to look up to the very tips of the trees.  Being small myself, I appreciate the pluck they have to be so small and perch so high.

They have become icons of courage to me — which I wrote of previously in Hummingbird.  And if you look up instead of down you may just catch some spectacular zooming behaviour — straight up 150 feet into the sky and plunging down again to hover in front of a potential mate — that would get my attention!

Photo above: Violet Nesdoly  © 2013 Taken near Capilano Resevoir/Cleveland Dam.
Featured Picture, Hummer Fly——–by: Laurel Archer, Nicomekl Flood Plain