Hummingbird Rescue: A Book Review

Fastest Thing on Wings: Rescuing Hummingbirds in Hollywood, by Terry Masear, Mariner Books, 306 pages.

This is an amazing story. Fourteen species of hummingbird share the Los Angeles metro area with millions of humans, and the results are not always pretty. Fortunately, there are a couple of incredibly dedicated and talented people there willing to give up a half year of their lives each year to do little else but rescue and rehab those that are injured and return them to the “wild.”

The hummingbird species of Southern California mostly winter in Mexico and return in spring to breed, and a big part of rescue is nestlings whose nest has been cut down by tree trimmers, blown down by storms, or raided by curious children. Terry tries to get those callers to put the nest back up and patch it back together if possible, but some humans are harder to deal with than injured or displaced birds.

In the half year before she wrote this book, Terry had taken 160 hummingbirds into her garage and back yard, kept them for a couple of months, and released 135. And I’m amazed at those who survived. For example, one got himself knocked out his nest onto an asphalt road being laid, and arrived at her house with his feathers all glued together with tar. She named him Blacktop, gradually got him cleaned up, taught him to fly, and he actually made it out of rehab to fly away.

Terry estimates that in the past 40 years the few rehabbers in the Greater LA Metro area have released about 10,000 hummers. Along the way you meet Jean, Terry’s mentor, who has been doing it a long time and has learned to cope in her own way with the frantic pace. Terry received about 2000 phone calls during that half year stint and made at least twice as many herself.

In her story, you pick up information and ideas that are not available in textbooks or field guides. For example, if a hummingbird is trapped in a fire station, you park the engines just outside the open doors. The bird will soon investigate these red objects and then fly off when it figures out that nothing there is edible. Or did you know that when two eggs are laid, the first to be laid and first to hatch is always female? Presumably this is a Darwinian way to help assure that if resources get too scarce for two, the survivor will be the more mature one and be able to reproduce the next generation.

What really impresses me is her ability to diagnose many problem situations over the phone, and to often get the caller to take responsibility for fixing them. Some real lessons in psychology here.

I suspect that mentioning Hollywood in the subtitle did book sales a disservice. I passed up the opportunity to purchase it a year ago because I pictured a wealthy, clueless celebrity tampering with a single injured bird. Wrong on all counts! Terry is not wealthy, knows more about them that I ever will, and her modest home just happens to be in the more ordinary part of Hollywood, from which she services a wide area.

Terry comes pretty close to coming unglued on occasion and has to rescue herself. Fortunately, her loving husband steps in to help when she starts sliding off the edge. And her circle of friends is large, many of whom are grateful that she was there to rescue their favorite bird. So in spite of all the trials and tribulations, she is already gearing up for next year. I wish her well.

Highly recommended!