They’re small, graceful, marvels of engineering. They’re also altogether evil. O.K. that last part is a bit of an overstatement but, really, who knew these delightful little creatures were so vicious?

Every spring hoards of hummingbirds descend on U.C. Santa Cruz to harvest nectar from its Arboretum’s blooming buds. We followed them there entirely unprepared for what we’d find. Prior to this excursion we had only encountered solitary birds at artificial feeders, and even then, only rarely. To say that we knew little of them or their ways really gives us more credit than we deserve.

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