Light As Feather

Finding a hummingbird feather is like finding a four-leaf clover or seeing a shooting star appear out of an ink-black sky. These are serendipitous occurrences and when they happen it’s like a wand has been waved somewhere and I’m in the right place at the right time to accept the magic.

We stuff our pillows and comforters with feathers. A feather in your cap is an accomplishment to be proud of. Nature designed owl feathers to make no sound when they swoop down on their unsuspecting prey. “Light as a feather” is a statement of fact or that feeling you get when everything is just exactly perfect. Throughout human history bird feathers have grabbed our imagination. Adornment in feathers was believed to bestow power on an individual. Mayan priests wore elaborate headdresses made from the colorful feathers of tropical birds, chief among them was the Resplendent Quetzal. On a family trip to Costa Rica several years ago we were fortunate to catch an extended glimpse of this nearly mythical and very rare bird. Our guide knew just where to look. Some birds have been hunted to extinction because of their feathers. Eagle feathers are an important part of the legends and customs of Native Americans.

Feathers are marvels of engineering. All feathers are essentially the same design: a central spine from which individual ribs radiate out. Sometimes the spine is at the center of the feather other times it’s offset, but that’s where the similarities end. The sizes, shapes, colors and patterns of feathers are as wildly varied as the birds themselves.

Check out the photo at the beginning of this essay and marvel along with me at the perfect symmetry and exquisite beauty of this tiny gem of a feather. I found it sitting atop a bar-height table on our back deck. It’s really somewhat miraculous that I found it at all, given its minute size and the fact that the slightest of breezes would simply have blown it away. I imagine moments before I came out that a fledgling hummingbird, this tiny new life, was perfecting one of its helicopter maneuvers above the table and decided to leave a calling card. I feel like this feather was left specifically for me, perhaps as a reminder of the beauty that surrounds us all, especially in everyday places and among the ordinary. This tiny discovery has also got me thinking about the fragile and fleeting nature of life itself and how important it is to appreciate and take part in every moment that I’m here on this earth. Hours of quiet observation and openness to my surroundings sometimes opens up a space where magic can enter, in this case it was in the form of a hummingbird feather.