Before he collided with a limousine, Gabriel, an Anna s hummingbird with a head and throat cloaked in iridescent magenta feathers, could spiral hundreds of feet in the air, dive 60 miles per hour in a courtship display, hover, and fly backward. When he arrived in rehab caked in road grime, he was so badly injured that he could barely perch. But Terry Masear, one of the busiest hummingbird rehabilitators in the country, was determined to save this damaged bird. During the five months that Terry worked with Gabriel, she took in 160 orphaned and injured hummingbirds, from a miniature hatchling rescued by a bulldog to Pepper, a female Anna s grounded on a film set. In their time together, Pepper and Gabriel formed a special bond and together, with Terry s help, learned to fly again. Woven around Gabriel s and Pepper s stories are those of other colorful birds in this personal narrative filled with the science and magic surrounding these fascinating creatures."

Terry Masear has been rescuing hummingbirds in Southern California since 2004. Los Angeles Hummingbird Rescue receives thousands of calls annually from individuals and wildlife centers throughout the United States. In the 2016 nesting season Terry and a network of dedicated volunteers rescued 1000 orphaned and injured hummingbirds. During the past two decades Southern California hummingbird rescuers have released over 10,000 rehabilitated young adults from seven species back into the wild.

Terry received her Ph.D. from UCLA, where she has taught a variety of graduate and undergraduate courses in education, research writing, and English as a Second Language.