A Hummingbird Attack Taught Me About Writing

Being bold when everything feels so much bigger than you.

Hummingbirds taught me about my writing career today.

Hanging from the corner of our front porch is a plastic hummingbird feeder. Bright yellow plastic flowers jut out from the vibrant red bottom. I’ve filled the clear bulb with the sucrose and electrolyte juice recommended by the avian experts at my local zoo. For four months it has attracted a handful of hummingbirds. I’ve sat on my porch many a morning working or quietly nursing my coffee, the occasional thrumming wingbeats my soundtrack.

The frequency of their visits has been pretty low to date. Most days resulted in no visitors that I noticed. This morning, word of a free breakfast must have spread. It was busier than usual on my front porch.

It started with just one. And then another appeared. The flash of ruby and emerald feathers was hypnotic. A third hummingbird joined the hovering ballet at my feeder.

It was at this point that things went awry.

Did you know that hummingbirds are incredibly territorial? I didn’t.

I didn’t know they get into aerial ninja fights over feeders, cheeping and buzzing and flitting about in epic maneuvers, spearing each other with their face and claws. I also didn’t realize that I was sitting entirely too close to that feeder and, in their lust for sugar water, my presence would not assuage the battle.

To be fair, I wasn’t so much attacked as I was caught in the crossfire. Once I stopped screeching that itty bitty birds were fighting near my head, I had my epiphany on writing.

Hummingbirds are fierce though tiny; they weigh, on average, a tenth of an ounce. They pose no real threat to larger birds, and yet they will puff up, dive-bombing birds many times their size while defending their food and nests. I meant nothing to those birds this morning.

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