| Tales from the field |
From Backyards to Beyond: The Surprising Odysseys of Radio-Tagged Hummingbirds In the warm flush of cities, the cosmopolitan hives of humanity, nature is a guest that we tolerate to varying degrees. We avoid tracking it into our homes; we allow trees to trim our streets and confine the rest to parks; we grow frustrated at the line of sugar ants snaking through the floorboards. But in
the tropical rainforest, we are the guests. Life exists in furious flares: the hoots of motmots and the trills of barbets at sunrise, the thunder of palm leaf abscissions, the scrabble of bats roosting in the ceiling after midnight. Fog unspools through the trees, thick and dampening and eerie. Morpho Issue 3 November 2023 | 27
butterflies dip past while a procession of toucanets tastes the banana offerings. The windows and doors are rarely closed; we shake out our boots in the mornings and drift off to sleep under mosquito nets. The sky is spattered with stars, if it’s clear enough for you to see it.
