My favorite birds are hummingbirds. What I love best about them is that the fact they’re so gorgeous, small and fascinating masks how tough and ruthless they can be. That’s why I chose the animal as one of three symbols in my historical novel, The Falcon, the Wolf and the Hummingbird due out in September.
The hummingbird in the photo is a color pencil drawing done by my mother, who got heavily into that medium in her later years. I felt closest to her on the rare occasions we talked while she worked.
Here’s a short excerpt from my memoir, Bliss Road:
To her, watercolor felt loose and reckless. Oil painting seemed unforgiving. In contrast, colored pencil allowed her the freedom to be herself; quiet, slow, meticulous, a lion of precision. Her mind centered on nonthreatening natural beauty, she could think about what colors would achieve the effect she wanted.
And a few fun facts about hummingbirds listed by the American Bird Conservancy:
There are more than 360 hummingbird species.
They “have outstanding spatial memory and can remember feeder locations years later.”
The smallest bird in the world, a Bee Hummingbird, is only 2 inches long and weighs less than a dime.
“The Blue-throated Mountain-gem's heart beats as fast as 1,260 beats per minute.”
What’s your favorite bird?
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Bliss Road, a memoir, June 2023
The Falcon, the Wolf and the Hummingbird, a historical novel, Sept. 19, 2023
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