Listen to this

Dance of the hummingbirds

Kelly Shaw

My computer is at the dining room table. We are selling our house and one of the recommendations from the selling agent is that we reconvert my office into the dining area. So here I sit. For all the chaos, the primary advantage is the view.

I look out a the window over my veranda where I have several hanging baskets filled with fuchsia. For those of you who don’t know, fuchsia is a huge attractor for hummingbirds. I have hung fuchsia for the past several years primarily because they grow, and growing is always a challenge for those of us without a green thumb. The other reason is that they attract hummingbirds and I have always felt a certain affinity for these hyper little aviaries. Sitting at the table I see them very differently than I could with the old furniture arrangement.

As I have watched them I have become more and more curious about their behaviour. I have learned a lot about them and, as I notice things, I check the internet and learn more interesting facts, watching for them to show up in my hummingbirds. One day I saw one of these little birds perched on my flowering bush. I didn’t know they perched. Now that may sound silly, but in my experience hummingbirds have always hovered, or flitted around. They were never still. And I have watched them dance with each other. I have been told that this is a territorial fight, but it looks so much like a dance to the uninformed observer, and I like dance – even as a metaphor for fight. The reason they keep coming back year after year is that they remember where food sources are and they need a lot of food to keep those little bodies hovering and flitting, dancing or fighting.

How like the youth we work with these little creatures are. Their feet are basically useless so they have to fly everywhere; sounds like those kids who can’t sit still. Their patterned behaviour around food and negotiating territory also seems familiar. I think I have worked with a few hummingbirds over the years.

Hummingbirds do not have a reputation for being troubled or delinquent or difficult to spend time with – so why do we so label those children who display similar behaviour? How come we have unrealistic expectations of kids when they are only doing what they have to in order to make sure that their needs are met? They are only doing what they have learnt to do. Just like the hummingbirds.

If we were to try to force a hummingbird to walk – it could not. If we were to take away all the flowers that were there last year – it would starve. If we limited the number of blossoms it was allowed access to each day – it would die. If we were to take ownership of the hummingbirds – they would rebel. I talked just now about my hummingbirds – but I have no desire to change or challenge those birds that choose to grace my garden. If I did they would leave. Who could blame them? How come people blame children?

You may think that my parallels are silly. Children are not like hummingbirds. My response – it may be silly – is that sometimes I think we are just too uptight.

So, thanks to the real estate agent who challenged my routine, and thanks to the hummingbirds for brightening my summer.