Essay/Term paper: Creative writing: life as a hummingbird

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Creative Writing

Creative Writing: Life As A Hummingbird


I eased behind the huge mass of nesting material and took a firm hold of
several strands, I then pulled back, quickly, to pull them free. The jarring
concussion, which followed, took me by suprise. I tried to get my bearings as
the ground rushed up to meet me and recovered about two feet from the ground.
After that near miss I climbed back to the altitude I had been at and started
searching for my tormentor. I realized that I had grabbed hold of a human's hair
and that he had not been happy about it. He was rubbing his head and throwing
immense volumes of noise at me. Hummingbirds make mistakes just like everyone
else and more than most when trying to build and protect a nest.

I decided that I should look elsewhere and settled on a lovely little spider
web. I dove toward it, feeling the thrum of my wings and hearing the whoosh of
the wind flowing past. The web glowed gold in the morning sunlight and dew drops
hanging from it shone like liquid fire. A gnat flew too close and I captured it
with a snap of my long tongue. Snaring a long piece of the silk, I immediately
ascended, looking for my tree. My mate was awaiting my return, and was soon
rewarded as I pulled up to the carefully camouflaged nest. I passed the silken
strand over to her and left to find some food.

The humans are very good to us and hang tremendous reservoirs of nectar from
various limbs and rafters. The containers come in all shapes and colors but they
all have red bases. I headed for one of these and saw one of my rival males. He
instantly attacked, chirping his anger at my intrusion. I counterattacked and we
began a dogfight. Up and down, we came, zooming into space and plummeting to the
ground. Although he was a willing and able opponent, I eventually wore him down,
and he then left the scene. I held a precise hover as my tongue formed a tube,
then I began slurping the sweet nectar from the feeder. Although I only weigh
about one half of an once, I consume twice that much food every day. I captured
a dozen mosquitoes on my way back to the nest and then sat on the nest to keep
the eggs warm while my mate went in search of food.

Sitting in the nest is a luscious feeling. The eggs are warm and the inside
of the nest is silky and soft. My counterpart constructed the nest from our
downy feathers and spider's silk. My mate designed and constructed the nest, and
the lichens and bark conceal it from predators. The first nest, which we had,
was not as well built and a Blue Jay came and ate the eggs. I arrived just as
the Blue Jay attacked the nest. He rammed it twice and knocked the eggs out. The
eggs fell to the ground and the jay went after them. I charged, feeling the
intense rush that my fury gave me.I felt no fear as I beheld the onrushing
behemoth. Such was my courage that I hardly noticed the crushing slap of
collision as I assaulted him repeatedly. Finally, I had to accept defeat though
and recognize that my defence was futile.

This time all was not to be in vain though, as I felt the slight tap of the
chicks trying to free themselves. They escaped after a few minutes and, I
witnessed the miracle that we had brought about. Two baby hummingbirds lay there,
chirping for food. Each was no larger than a bumblebee, but they were just as
loud as I am when defending my life. My mate took over and began feeding them.
Soon, they were asleep, blissfully unaware of the dangers all around. Life is,
truly, a wonder to behold.