The Hummingbird Effect/s?

Read the full article at 'How We Got to Now'

The hummingbird in the 2009 National Geographic
article by Michael Pollan

I wrote a post about reading an article in a National Geographic magazine I had bought over ten years ago and had laid dormant in a pile of other reading material until a few weeks ago, and the article I'm referring to is one about orchids by Michael Pollan -
Snowden on Joe Rogan?

But it was the picture of the hummingbird in Michael's article that drew my attention more than the other photos, because I have paintings and prints of hummingbirds placed around my home, from prints of artworks by a South American shamanic artist, to a print of Robert Irwin's LA hummingbird photo, which I feel in some way was a wink to Rob from his late father Steve somehow, or at least a rather fortuitous cosmic coincidence in my opinion to make for a great meaningful metaphorical photo.
Hummingbird Medicine?

Robert Irwin's 'Bird of Paradise' print

We don't have hummingbirds in Australia, but we do have the 'bird of paradise' plants featured in Robert Irwin's hummingbird print.

Mine are just about ready to develop flowers soon, hopefully.

My 'bird of paradise' plants as they are today in my garden

I bought Robert's print after reading a newspaper story about how Robert captured the photo of the hummingbird in Los Angeles (the city of angels?) while walking in a park.

It is said that hummingbird conjures love as no other medicine does.
Without an open and loving heart, you can never taste the pure bliss of life according to the book 'Bird Medicine'.
It also says that hummingbirds quickly die if caged, caught or are imprisoned.
Evan T. Pritchard also writes about hummingbird that,
"We need to feel free in order to create.
It reminds me of the New Hampshire slogan "Live Free or Die".
That's how hummingbirds live miraculous existences." 

It was after reading Michael Pollan's orchid article and contemplating over the unique qualities of the hummingbird that I came across net searches where people were mentioning
"The Hummingbird Effect", especially
Steven Johnson's idea of it pictured at the top of this post.

How's the hummingbird effect different from the butterfly effect?

I remember throwing out a challenge to the universe when reading about the hummingbird that if it was to place a hummingbird in my Australian backyard (a near impossible feat, since there are none over here in Oz that I know of) I would really look into the 

spiritual meaning of the animal.
And while a hummingbird hasn't yet physically shown up in my backyard, a South American flower associated with the hummingbird randomly bloomed at the bottom of my kitchen window, which was pretty much under the ledge a butterfly showed up when I first moved in-
A Lonely Little Petunia?

"Petunias are generally insect pollinated, with the exception of

P. exserta, which is a rare, red-flowered, hummingbird-pollinated species."

A black swan event?!

So maybe the universe is sending my dumb ass a sign, or it might just be drawing my attention to read this book pictured below;-)
Although I think that bird is a kingfisher, not a hummingbird, but I have confused the two birds in my past when I bought what I thought was a glass kingfisher, but later realized it was a giant glass hummingbird bigger than any kingfisher you would see in real life.
Is 2017 Gonna be a Year for the Birds?

My giant glass hummingbird that I mistook for a kingfisher

Have you seen a hummingbird this big?

The Kingfisher Effect?

Either way it certainly had an effect on me, enough to write this post about "The Hummingbird Effect":-)