The Part of a Life They Don't See

Lessons from a Hummingbird’s Resting State

In the poem "Hummingbirds," Mary Oliver writes of having climbed a tree to discover hummingbirds sitting down on a branch, which points to something I’ve been thinking about:

So many portrayals of hummingbirds in photographs and art (including my own) feature hummingbirds in flight. And yet, there’s a whole other part of their lives that is not seen as m…