Hummingbirds: My Winter Guests

Heidcamp has regularly rescued and overwintered wayward bluebirds and ""hummers"" in the sunroom of her upstate New York home, resulting in a popular series of books (her A Hummingbird in My House, 1990, has sold over 100,000 copies). This volume is set during the winter of 1995, when four hummingbirds turned the sunroom into a semi-tropical aviary. First there was Peeper, a male rubythroat with a severe shoulder injury; then came K-T, another male rubythroat who had flown full speed into a bank window. Late in the fall, while the first two were receiving meticulous care from Heidcamp, two rufous females--Red and Crystal--joined the group. Heidcamp gives a lively and engaging account of the antics of her charges, but it is her 108 superb, lushly reproduced photos of the birds that steal the show. Whether caught snapping at fruit flies in mid-flight or sucking at the nectar of the aviary's many richly colored orchids while hovering, seemingly motionless, the hummers are captivating. These tiny birds will, through Heidcamp's charming book, have readers singing their song. (Oct.)