The Hummingbirds' Gift: Wonder, Beauty, and Renewal on Wings

Written by Sy Montgomery

Narrated by Sy Montgomery

From the beloved New York Times bestselling author of the “fascinating…entertaining” (The Daily Beast) National Book Award finalist The Soul of an Octopus, a charmingly perfect gem of a book about the most exquisite and extraordinary of winged creatures—hummingbirds.

As one of the most beautiful and intriguing birds found in nature, hummingbirds fascinate people around the world. The lightest birds in the sky, hummingbirds are capable of incredible feats, such as flying backwards, diving at speeds of sixty-one MPH, and beating their wings more than sixty times a second. Miraculous creatures, they are also incredibly vulnerable when they first emerge from their eggs. That’s where Brenda Sherburn comes in.

With tenderness and patience, she rescues abandoned hummingbirds and nurses them back to health until they can fly away and live in the wild. In The Hummingbird’s Gift, the extraordinary care that Brenda provides her peanut-sized patients is revealed and, in the process, shows us just how truly amazing hummingbirds are. With Sy Montgomery’s signature “joyful passion” (Library Journal), and including sixteen pages of gorgeous color photos, this beautifully written and inspiring little book celebrates the profound gift that hummingbirds are to our planet and is the ultimate gift for nature lovers and bird watchers everywhere.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: May 4, 2021
• ISBN: 9781797128672

Sy Montgomery

Sy Montgomery is a naturalist, adventurer, and author of more than thirty acclaimed books of nonfiction for adults and children, including The Hummingbirds’ Gift, The Hawk’s Way, the National Book Award finalist The Soul of an Octopus, and most recently, Of Time and Turtles, which was a New York Times bestseller. The recipient of numerous honors, including lifetime achievement awards from the Humane Society and the New England Booksellers Association, she lives in New Hampshire with her husband, writer Howard Mansfield, and a border collie.

Reviews for The Hummingbirds' Gift

[Wendy Goldberg · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Beautifully written and narrated by the wonderful naturalist, Sy Montgomery!

[Jeff Walther · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lovely story. I really enjoyed the author’s narration. You could hear her love and enthusiasm for the hummingbirds.

[Michael Cylkowski · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Meh! Sometimes it’s about hummingbirds, sometimes it’s the author talking about the heroics of hummingbird rescuers. Not worth the listen unless you have absolutely nothing else. Even then, just listening to the ambient sound was better.

[Anne Timmreck · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Lots of poeticism, very little science, lots of savior complex and the narrator sounds like she's constantly about to cry.