Customer Reviews

First Flight: A Mother Hummingbird's Story

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This exquisite book is about loving and caring for what one loves. The Carroll's masterpiece springs from their love for Honey the Hummingbird as they daily devote themselves to watching her from her return from wintering in Mexico, the laying of two eggs in a nest on a clothesline which she had previously built and inhabited, the birth of her babies, which the Carrolls named Ray and Zen, and her nurturing of them until and after their fledgling flights.

Everything about this book is done with devotion and great care. The text, written by Noriko Carroll, is a perfect accompaniment to what seems to me genius level photographs taken by Don Carroll. There are special lighting effects as a background to many of the photographs, and Mr. Carroll explains in an afterword called "Photographics Notes" that a mirror reflecting parts of his flower garden was used to create these stunning effects. I plan to order another copy of this book, take it to a framer and request that several of the photographs be removed and framed, to be hung on a wall of my home.

The description on the inside of the book jacket cover is even unique. It is not the standard patois one usually reads. It is done with great care, depth and intelligence. It is the finest of its kind I have ever read.

You will learn a great deal about hummingbirds, and if you have a backyard feeder, you will find out the proper and best way to maintain it. You will become more aware of the hummingbirds in your yard and in your life. And, unless you have a heart of stone, you will end up loving them, if you do not do so already.

I heartily thank the Carrolls for their magnificent undertaking of introducing us to the life and ways of this wonderful bird and her offspring. It is their artistic skills, their intact sense of wonder and awe (which so many tend to lose in adulthood), and their capacity to love which has brought this book to us. Quite a gift!

A touching family portrait of hummers that is a feast for the eyes. I marveled at the technical wizardry of photographer Don Carroll and the simple prose by Noriko that did justice to this little wonder of nature. This book definetly stays on my coffee table!

First, a wonderful memoir of their cat, "Happy Birthday", and now an even more surprising story, an example of patience, persistence, perception and love. The adventures of hummingbirds, an entire life cycle in vivid beautiful color, and amazingly intimate details (this from a new Yorker whose only contact with bird life is pigeons). I think you'll be as delighted as I was.
- Jay Maisel

My parents got this book, but I love it as much as them! I especially like how Don put a mirror over the hummingbird's nest, so you could see inside it as the new babies were being born. Now I love hummingbirds even more, because I understand about their lives. They really take care of their babies, and that is important.
I am bringing this book to school for sharing.

Wording and photographs are a descriptive and compelling piece of work ... informative and factual of a mother hummingbird raising her young, yet relayed in a creative page-turning style ... gives a fascinating and unique perspective of the tiny baby creature's daily way of life ... photography is just as full of life and activity as the story; the photographs are remarkable and captivating, brilliant and colorful;
altogether: spellbinding.

First Flight is a truly warming experience as you are taken into a mother hummingbird's lifestyle of her non stop multitasking of motherhood. In this descriptive, clearly written work of art, meet her baby chicks Ray and Zen, as they are hatched and grow older, and observe their day by day growing and maturing by seeing the mesmerizing close up photographs of them on their daily trek to adulthood.

Here is a beautifully photographed and compassionately written story of a mother hummingbird and her two babies. She nested in the backyard of the authors who dedicated themselves to recording her life and her family-how she refurbished the nest, kept the eggs warm, and fed her little ones. You are inches away to see the babies hatch and the stages of their development, steps they took practicing on the nest to learn to fly, and the exciting moments when eventually each one leapt off into the air.

Within the narrative, you'll find some surprises like the fact that hummingbirds are voracious eaters consuming several times their body weight in nectar and insects each day. To help accomplish this feat, their long translucent tongues can lap 13 times a second to slurp nectar from a flower. These tiny, colorful avians can fly 60 miles an hour, stop on a dime, hover like a helicopter, even fly backwards and upside down!

How did the authors capture these magnificent photos? They show you the equipment and setup they used. Want to see what tiny hummingbird eggs look like, and what strange raisin-sized baby creatures emerge from them before eventually metamorphosing into the jewel-like birds we know? Open this lovingly produced volume and be prepared to find great beauty, astonishing detail, a delightfully written true story filled with adventure and wonder.

`First Flight' takes you into the world of hummingbirds. Because these birds are so tiny I never got more than a glimpse of their appearance at a birdfeeder.

Therefore, I was and am totally captivated by this book with its breathtakingly beautiful photos of a mother hummingbird and her offspring. The unique photographic set up with mirrors lets you participate in the very busy life of a mother hummingbird. You can actually see her carefully adding building material to her nest which is next to a clothespin on a clothesline. Absolutely astonishing are the following photographs. You look right into the nest with one first egg the size of a jellybean, then two, then a tiny head cracking through the eggshell. You see how the babies are fed by their mother, the development into little hummingbirds, their wings getting strong, their first flight attempts and finally their flight into a world outside their protective nest.

The accompanying text is well written, informative and full of wonderment and tenderness. I can't help but smile every time I open any page of the book, and it can be enjoyed by anyone, both young and old.

Great Photos! Great story! This is a great book to start your children on a love of nature.This book is great for also getting the children started in photography. When I was a child my grandmother hung a feeder for the Hummingbirds. I spent a lot of time watching them feed. There were no digital cameras or computers then. I would loved to have been able to take pictures of them, and saved them on a CD. Then be able to take the pictures to school to show my classmates. I loved this book!

WHAT A PLEASANT SUPRISE TO FIND THAT DON AND NORIKO CARROLL HAVE PRODUCED ANOTHER WONDERFUL BOOK. THEIR FIRST, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, THE CAT" IS ONE OF MY FAMILIES FAVORITES, AND THEIR NEWEST CREATION "FIRST FLIGHT" IS EXQUISITE. IT IS THE PERFECT MOTHER'S DAY GIFT FOR ALL OF OUR FRIENDS WITH CHILDREN, AND EVEN THOSE WITHOUT. THEIR SUPERB PHOTOS AND EASY READING AND INFORMATIVE PROSE ABOUT HUMMINGBIRDS, HAS MADE ME AN EXPERT 'BIRDER' TO MY SEVEN YEAR OLD TWINS WHO LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT THE BABY HUMMINGBIRDS EXPLOITS. THEY HAVE BROUGHT HUMMINGBIRDS TO BROOKLYN. THANKS FOR ANOTHER WONDERFUL ENJOYABLE BOOK THAT WE WILL REREAD AND LOOK AT FOR A LONG TIME. I CAN'T WAIT FOR THEIR NEXT CREATION.