The Flying Jewels of Tobago
Faraaz Abdool, birding enthusiast and photographer, shares his fascination for hummingbirds. All photos by Faraaz Abdool They are nature’s bio-mechanical marvels, with heartbeats that sound more like two stroke engines on the highway than things made of sinew. Like every other bird, they are feathered, yet unlike every other bird, their tiny feathers seem to emit their own light, glittering like jewels on a gala night. Their wings do not flap up and down like every other flying bird, but in a mysterious figure-eight pattern. They are hummingbirds, of which there are almost three hundred and sixty species – all of which are found only in the Americas. A Rufous-breasted Hermit hovers briefly in the open, before darting off to the undergrowth. Photo courtesy Faraaz Abdool It is impossible to maintain one of these birds in a cage, not because of their size as they are the smallest birds in the world, but due to the extreme nature of their daily li...