nature – Gabe Feathers McGee

I wrote this for fellow blogger, poet, story teller Val Brussell who is a big fan of the Hummingbird. New Phantom High Speed Cameras (200 to 500 frame rate) have captured some never before seen behaviours of this tiny, amazing bird.

Here is a youtube video about the technology and with some footage of the Hummingbird (the poem makes more sense if you watch the video)

Slow motion hummingbirds

This is a bad day for hummingbirds
the hummingbird murmured to me
sounding like a purring puddy tat
filled up on sardines and cream.

That phantom high speed camera
has shown things that we’d like discrete
unblurring our swirling invisibility sheen
revealing fantastical feats.

That super fast lens caught me right in the act
sneaking in a swift head peck
well what do you expect, it’s nectar
a delight to dehydrated beaks.

But it’s not all bad, he chortled
you humans are looking the fool
you thought that you knew us inside and out
but your errors mean you are the tools.

I’ll be off now he chattered with a smile in his heart
bustling backwards with an elegant swirl
must apologise to my mate for pecking his head
then he was gone in the windiest whirl.