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BAY AREA, California — Hummingbirds have always been elusive to me, but one California man's life was transformed when he became the "hummingbird whisperer."
One night two years ago, James Manzo heard a hummingbird tapping at his apartment window. Because this is unusual behavior in hummingbirds, Manzo took the creature inside and fed her sugar-water.
Manzo kept her safe inside a shoebox overnight, then let the hummingbird go in the morning. He said it was the first time he had felt peace in a while, and taking care of the bird "snapped me out of this funk that I was in," as shared in a video on YouTube. Since then, Manzo started flexing his creative muscles to design elaborate costumes of bright colors and flowers to attract hummingbirds. This led Manzo to create an alter ego as the "hum daddy."
Feeding the hummingbirds every day resulted in Manzo learning how to rehabilitate wildlife and become an educator through the National Park Service.
Manzo got married and moved into a house where he has a dozen feeders in the backyard and a bird bath that bubbles.
"My life is so different now because of hummingbirds. I'm going to continue befriending and advocating for hummingbirds whenever I can," he said.
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