A Charm of Hummingbirds

Intégrité: A Faith and Learning Journal Vol. 21, No. 2 (Fall 2022): 61-62

A Charm of Hummingbirds

Jane Beal

I was walking up the cement path that leads between the agapanthus Africanus toward my front door when I suddenly saw her: a hummingbird, like an emerald jewel, suspended in mid-air. She was flitting from one agapanthus flower to another, sucking out the nectar deep inside, in a tiny fervor of delight. I was spellbound by her exquisite beauty, by the contrast between her iridescent body and the pale lavender blossoms to which she was so attentive. Her wings moved so rapidly that they were a blur: two shadows frenetically beating back the still air. She saw me when I saw her, of course, and she kept one gentle eye on me as she moved among the flowers. She was completely unafraid, as if she knew she had captivated me. She trusted me to stand still, amazed by her presence. And I was amazed.

hummingbird! lavender flower petals open wider

Ten years ago, I traveled to Costa Rica during Thanksgivingtime to visit my sister, Alicia, who was then living in the capitol city of San José. On a day when Alice was not working, we took a bus to the Selvatura Park in Monteverde in the Saint Helena Cloud Rain Forest. In the park, there is a zip-line, a butterfly sanctuary in a Victorian-era building topped by a glass dome, and a grove hung with at least a dozen red bird-feeders. Each feeder is filled with sugar-water, where hummingbirds galore fearlessly descend to feast on happiness among their fellows. After flying down the zip-line and seeing the Monarchs and Blue Morphos in all stages of their miraculous transformation, we heard the hummingbirds calling our name. There were so many of them! Green-Crowned Brilliant and WhiteTipped Sicklebill, Magnificent, Cinnamon, and Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, Purple-Throated Mountain-Gem, and Talamanca Cordillera: they danced beautiful circles around one another as if combining salsa, merengue, and cumbia all at once. Like sparkling jewels, they flitted between the feeders. I saw the largest hummingbird in the Americas, a Violet Sabrewing. I did not see the smallest, the so-called bee hummingbird, but I did see hummingbirds that were no more than an inch and a half long—extraordinary and perfect. They were so fearless, so plentiful, and so near that they were actually flying through my hair. This magical experience brought tears to my eyes! My

sister teased me, but those tears were inevitable in the presence of so many tiny angels. The image of the birds was reflected in my teardrops.

a charm of hummingbirds! angels with rainbow wings in a Renaissance painting

I remember one afternoon when I was standing in the cul-de-sac where my brother Abraham’s house is located in the city of Vallejo, California in the San Francisco Bay Area. His wife and children were outside with me. His white work truck was parked close by. A hummingbird suddenly went whizzing past us, immediately arresting our attention, as she spiraled upward into the blue sky so that our eyes, following her flight, were dazzled by the sunlight shining radiantly through the white clouds that day and illuminating her sparkling form high above us. She was heaven’s answer to a deep sorrow I was feeling. More than a distraction, that glorious little bird was a messenger, telling us about how the soul can ascend from earth to a divine realm—and much more quickly than we deem likely. She was an invitation to contemplate the possibility of a spiritual breakthrough in the midst of life’s discouragements. That moment stays in my heart, written there with notes of music, and even now, years later, my soul replays the memory like a song.

hummingbird! suddenly the sky is wider