Hummingbird Stake

The smallest bird in the garden, and the least afraid.

There is a moment, if you sit still long enough on a summer afternoon, when a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird stops in the air right in front of you. Not perched. Hovering. Close enough that you can hear the wings.

It lasts about a second and a half, and people remember it for years.

We had this one cut in steel to hold onto that moment. Wings out, mid-hover, head up and watching — the way you actually see them, rather than the way they're usually drawn.

They are remarkable little birds. One weighs less than a nickel. The wings beat up to 200 times a second, the heart up to 1,200 times a minute, and a single bird will visit hundreds of flowers between sunrise and sunset just to keep going. More than half its body weight in sugar, every day of its life.

And for all that, they are not the least bit timid. A hummingbird will run off a crow, a jay, or a hawk that comes too near its patch of flowers, and never once consider the size of the thing it's chasing.

Set this one where you'll come across it often — by the porch steps, at the edge of the border, near the feeder. It is a good thing to be reminded of.

Specifications