“The Hummingbirds’ Gift: Wonder, beauty and renewal on wings,” by Sy Montgomery

“The Hummingbirds’ Gift” is a nonfiction story that follows Sy Montgomery as she volunteers at a hummingbird sanctuary to nurse and rehabilitate two orphaned hummingbird chicks. In her introduction, Montgomery talks about hummingbirds and how fragile they are, as well as how she and Brenda met and became friends. Brenda Sherburn La Belle is a hummingbird rehabilitator who has turned her California home into a sanctuary for orphaned hummingbirds. These fragile creatures take an extreme amount of care and attention to get them ready to release back into the wild.

Hummingbirds Maya and Zuni arrive at Brenda’s house at just a few days old. The couple who brought them in decided it was time when they realized the mother bird hadn’t been around in a few days. Worried something had happened to her, the two watched the nest for hours over the next couple of days until they realized the babies were starving on their own. Thankfully, they knew what to do.

Montgomery flew into California to help after receiving a call from Brenda about the two birds. She was in love at her first sight of the featherless pink blobs. Adult hummingbirds are incredibly fragile beings, so one can only imagine the immense care the babies have to be handled with. They must be fed every 20 minutes, and the slightest bit of mishandling can puncture one of the many air sacs inside their bodies.

Still, Brenda and Montgomery’s dedicated work shows readers the true miracle of these wondrous birds and how fulfilling it is to get to be a part of their world. This book is relatively short (less than 90 pages) and is a neat story no matter what kind of reader you are. The narrative is supplemented with lots of beautiful photographs of the different kinds of hummingbirds mentioned throughout.

Sy Montgomery is also the author of “The Soul of an Octopus,” (2015), which explores the world of one of the most clever creatures. If you can’t get ahold of “The Hummingbirds’ Gift,” then I recommend you pick this one up and give it a try. It is wonderfully insightful and incredibly informative. Another book you might want to try if either of these titles interest you is “The Book of Eels” by Patrik Svensson, which is a blending of nature and memoir for a look at one of the world’s most mysterious fish.