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Fastest Things on Wings: Rescuing Hummingbirds in Hollywood

by Terry Masear

A hummingbird rehabilitation memoir set against Hollywood’s hazards

Regular price $18.31 USD
Regular price $30.52 USD Sale price $18.31 USD
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Paperback New English

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AlbakiReads Editorial

A hummingbird rehabilitation memoir set against Hollywood’s hazards

Terry Masear’s account centers on the practical, intensive work of rehabilitating injured hummingbirds in and around Hollywood. Gabriel, an injured Anna’s hummingbird, anchors four months in which Masear cares for 160 birds, including nestlings, fledglings, and birds hurt in unusually urban circumstances such as film production and public attractions. The book combines individual rescue cases with information about hummingbird behavior and abilities, including courtship flight, hovering, and backward flight. Gabriel’s recovery and his connection with another injured bird, Pepper, provide a through line within a broader portrait of the risks these small birds face and the sustained care involved in returning them to flight.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in bird rescue and wildlife rehabilitation
  • Fans of nature writing built around individual animal cases
  • Those curious about hummingbirds’ behavior and biology

Themes

Wildlife rehabilitationHummingbirdsUrban environmental hazardsAnimal careFlight and recovery

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

A heartwarming account of the trials and triumphs a Hollywood hummingbird rehabber encounters while caring for her tiny, fragile patients.

Before he collided with a limousine, Gabriel, an Anna's hummingbird with a head and throat cloaked in iridescent magenta feathers, could spiral 130 feet in the air, dive 60 miles per hour in a courtship display, hover, and fly backward.

When he arrived in rehab caked in road grime, he was so badly injured that he could barely perch. But Terry Masear, one of the busiest hummingbird rehabbers in the country, was determined to save this damaged bird, who seemed oddly familiar.

During the four months that Terry worked with Gabriel, she took in 160 hummingbirds, from a miniature nestling rescued by a bulldog and a fledgling trapped inside a skydiving wind tunnel at Universal CityWalk, to Pepper, a female Anna's injured on a film set. In their time together, Pepper and Gabriel form a special bond and, together, with Terry's help, learn to fly again.

Woven around Gabriel's and Pepper's stories are those of other colorful birds in this personal narrative filled with the science and magic surrounding these fascinating creatures.

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