Noticing Nature (travel edition) 12/100 – Birds for the Bard

Working toward 100 posts of 100 words each about nature in our own backyards

Costa Rica is a hummingbird extravaganza. It’s home to more than 50 species, with enchanting names like fiery-throated, snowcap, and mountain gem. Minnesota, by contrast, is home to only one: the ruby-throated, but I still thrill whenever I see one.

Though small in stature, anyone who has spent time around these little wonders, watching them fight for space at the feeder, knows they are no shrinking violets. Did Shakespeare have these tiny acrobats in mind when he wrote his classic line in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, “Though she be but little, she is fierce”?

The Bard on birds? Why not!