His entire life revolves around eating, procreating and migrating. It is all he knows and it is all he needs to know. To him, the world is a massive place for his tiny needs. To him, everything is a threat. But the threats to him are instinctual. He doesn’t think in terms of levels of threat. He only thinks in terms of survival. His brain is so small and so basic, he thinks of those three things-eating, procreating and migrating, if he actually thinks at all.
Perhaps his actions and reactions are completely instinctual with no actual thought needed. No logic. No practicality. No sorting by priority or imminent need. Perhaps every moment of his short life is preordained just as for every other member of his species. Perhaps he never has a thought at all because his tiny brain is not equipped for that act. Perhaps he goes though his entire existence never having a single thought, but only acting upon instinct formed over millions of years.
In the human mind, an existence of pure instinct is unimaginable. In the human mind, merely and completely acting upon instinct and inherent behavior is unthinkable, but we see it every day perhaps.
In the tiny eyes of the hummingbird, man is a threat if he moves. If the man sits completely still, the hummingbird sees no threat. Man can provide that hummingbird with his sustenance, but the hummingbird doesn’t know that. All that tiny bird knows is that every year, he flies to the same area and goes to the same sources of food as the year [or years] before. All the hummingbird knows is the routine.
In March, usually, the hummingbirds begin to leave their Central American or Mexican homes and head north. They feed heavily along the way because they will fly non stop directly over the Gulf of Mexico. When they arrive in the southern United States, they will stay a while and eat until they are ready to continue further north. Many of them will never survive the flight across the water, but each year that is the path they take.
As these tiny creatures move north, they begin to visit the same places as the year before. They stop at the same places and eat at the same places…whether it be bushes and flowers growing or from feeders put out by humans. The hummingbird remembers and follows the same pattern year after year.
The hummingbird has a life span of 3 to 4 years. The male will arrive at their usual summer “home” first. He scouts the area, in a manner of speaking. Then the female arrives and a nest is begun. The babies come and all the while, the adults visit the same feeders as the years before. They tend to nest in the same areas each year. The babies grow and begin to explore before the summer is over. Perhaps the fact that they mature in that area with their parents and follow the patterns as followed by their parents is why they, too, migrate the same direction and land in the same places and eat from the same places during the years of their lives? Or perhaps they don’t think at all. Perhaps it truly is simply instinct.
Shades of Life 