About Hummingbird Communication: A Cooperative Hummingbird Rescue
Before a Transition Pasadena steering meeting this past Fall, I came outside looking for one of my cats just in time to see him playing with something he seemed very interested in. Unfortunately, it was a hummingbird.
I have been an ecological designer since 2004, and a majority of the projects I have worked on since then have included habitat landscaping for precious pollinators like this bird, and other beneficial organisms such as butterflies, dragonflies, and frogs. Whenever a beautiful creature visits me in my garden, I consider it a gift as nonhuman beings shy away from humankind after hundreds of years of violent aggression including habitat destruction and outright murder. When I look up the symbolic meaning of the organism who has graced me with its presence due to my offering of restored habitat, I write that down and allow the wisdom commonly associated with each species to guide my day.
Birds have long been seen around the world as messengers. The hummingbird to Native Americans brought a message of healing, love, good luck, and joy. On this occasion, my interaction with this species took a much deeper turn than usual.
good deal of time answering questions like, "what is green infrastructure," "is a swale paved," and that kind of thing. And these questions don't only come from my clients. I've found that a lot of builders aren't familiar with ecology. They install jobs according to 'traditional' methods.
at a client’s home recently in Sherman Oaks, California. They told me about the gopher who had been eating the roots of their plants and creating little sink holes all over their yard. During our site visit, I noted the telltale signs of a landscape out of balance. I knew it would be my job to teach them how to fix their gopher problem by re-balancing their landscape. While we talked, the gopher responsible came out of a hole at the base of an umbrella plant. He looked directly at us while proceeding to remove three umbrella plant stalks and carry them backwards into his hole. I pointed this out to my client, and we laughed at his audacity.
That’s right, they paid me to answer their questions about how to design landscapes.
I fell in love with Nature** as a child. I lived on a houseboat in Sausalito, and back then it was okay to wander for literally hours through the shipyards by myself. Generation X understands this. It was on those long, unsupervised walks that I discovered near-blinding pockets of magic. I would remember them for life. One was a tall stand of Anise (Pimpinella anisum) which had been colonized by a group of Ladybugs. The sun was shining on their brilliant red shells, popping them against the vibrant green stems. I stood surrounded by the wonderful scent of the plant and pinched several small lace clumps to savor the flavor, being careful not to scoop up any Ladybugs on accident.