Giant Hummingbirds
Buzzus Birdus Humongie
This document was first completed on Wednesday, December
30, 2020.
Wednesday, December 30, 2020
During the morning of Wednesday, December 30, 2020, I was exploring
deep into a dark and remote region of a largely uncharted forest in northeast
Georgia. It was a pleasant morning. The temperature was in
the middle 40s. There was a solid overcast and a slight breeze.
It was perfect weather for exploration.
As I penetrated deeper into the forest, noting every detail of the untouched
region, I was stopped in my tracks, if I'd been leaving any tracks, which
I wasn't, by a low, deep, moaning sound. Experienced wilderness explorer
that I am, I'd never before heard such a sound. I confess that, momentarily,
I was chilled to the bone. However, my innate curiosity about wild
and unknown things quickly set me back to my normal, alert self.
I moved carefully toward the sound, quietly, as only an experienced
and skillful tracker can do. I found cover behind trees, in low places
in the ground, in locations where a less skilled woodsman would have thought
that there wasn't any cover at all. As I approached the source of
the noise, my keen powers of observation informed me that the source of
the sound wasn't static, as I'd first assumed. I was reminded of
one of my first lessons as a tracker: never assume. It can
lead to a quick or, worse yet, a lingering death, far from help and alone
in the wilderness. So, I became even more cautious. Even the
slight breeze would have thought me silent.
My caution was indeed fortunate. Just as I slipped into a perfect
bit of cover, I saw it. But it didn't see me. It hummed past,
scarcely a yard above me, seeking it's lunch. I didn't move or even
breathe. I became as a piece of the landscape. Thus, I wasn't
able to get a picture of the thing, as it moved past, so close that I could
almost have touched it. But, it did leave me a calling card and I
got a picture of that, shown below.
Incontrovertible Proof that Giant Hummingbirds Exist
|