Fall humming along

On the return trip from Sauer Family Kame I stopped at Dick Young Forest Preserve with the intent of finding fall warblers in the east side woods. There were only yellowthroats and the requisite cedar waxwings flitting around the elderberry bushes. A least flycatcher and some flickers held their summer places as well.

But then, some real action. Four ruby-throated hummingbirds fighting over blossoms! All were females and immature birds. This is their couple weeks to move, I know. As I walked along the east side woods there were hummers scattered throughout the under story and way up high as well. Most were feeding, often on the tiniest blossoms imaginable. Hummingbird bills are always much longer than I recall when I set out to draw them. Their tails are much wider and pronounced as well. When you are drawing nature it never pays to average out the dimensions to be on the safe side. Real creatures have odd dimensions, sometimes, seemingly awkward and useless. But the opposite is true.

Watch a hummingbird closely and you'll see them twist their bodies in flight quite pronouncedly. Their tails flare and flash, green, black and white. If you listen closely, the small pips and squeaks they make. They are both exaggerated and understated in all the right ways.

One wonders how many hummers in how many woods across the Midwest there are right now. At Nelson Lake and forest preserves throughout Chicago, they are taking advantage of the bounty of fall flowers. Backyards, too. It's worth keeping your eyes open and your movement to a minimum to let them come near. Nature evolved them perfectly for their niche, and watching a hummingbird is to bear witness to the inventiveness of the evolutionary process. These birds have the ability to zip fast in direct flight yet stop almost instantly. They can move up, down, sideways, and through tight spaces if need be. The only thing they cannot do is fly upside down for any significant period.

They dart and float and buzz their way toward the Gulf Coast over the next month or so, then make the giant leap across the ocean to Central and South America. Just a couple ounces of nature's boundless energy and imagination. Every step of their trip and every turn of their body is part of a giant evolutionary process that takes place over inches and miles, over seconds and years. Make the effort to study a hummingbird. You'll know a little bit more about where you came from as well; the complexity, the dexterity and yes, even the intelligence behind the bird whose wings seem to murmur of natures greatest inventions.