Type “hummingbird rescue” into any search engine, and the top results will lead you to Terry Masear, a healer for all feathered things that whiz and
Type “hummingbird rescue” into any search engine, and the top results will lead you to Terry Masear, a healer for all feathered things that whiz and dart and zing. People seeking such assist have usually discovered a wounded little bird in the wild that is unable to fly, while others sometimes have a hearty one trapped inside their homes or businesses. Masear is the expert who can talk you through how to tend to the creature or safely guide it back outdoors. She’s also the focus of the uplifting up-to-date documentary Every Little Thing about her efforts to personally rehabilitate a handful of hummingbirds who are broken or damaged. Not every one of them has a cheerful ending, but some do—and each benefits from her care and compassion.
Those in her hometown of Los Angeles could utilize that hope right now amid the overwhelming wildfire destruction that has gutted the city. Masear is getting more calls than usual right now from the region. “I’m not getting any calls from the fire zones. Obviously, there are no humans in those areas, but I am getting quite a few calls from fire-adjacent areas like Santa Monica and the [San Fernando] Valley,” she says. Just like the evacuated people, wildlife has been fleeing the burn areas to take refuge in those neighboring places.
The surge in requests haven’t involved any burn-damaged hummingbirds. The troubles are still the usual window strikes or wrong turns that leave the birds trapped inside. But Masear says human beings may be more attuned to them at this moment because they are grief-stricken by the blazes and desperate to save any living thing, no matter how tiny. “People are just so raw right now that after we talk for a few minutes, they just break down sobbing because they’re trying to keep a cap on their emotions, and then the bird releases all of that,” she says. “This little vulnerable creature that’s in trouble releases that emotional pain.”
The good news is that Masear doesn’t believe many birds died in the infernos. “As I told someone this morning, who was so upset that the hummingbirds may be getting burned, I said, ‘Hey, it takes a hummingbird three minutes to fly from the Palisades to Brentwood—if that,’” she says. “We have to drive 30 minutes. So I think they’re doing all right. They’re survivors.”
It’s a glimmer of reassurance in an otherwise bleak time for the city. Shortly before we spoke, in a joint conversation with Every Little Thing director Sally Aitken, Masear fielded a desperate call from a shop owner in Glendale, California, just south of the Eaton fire that has damaged or destroyed more than 7,000 structures, according to Cal Fire, and caused 16 of the overall 25 deaths. “He found a bird outside. I think it was the window strike. A woman came in to shop and he said he was really upset, and she said, ‘Just call Terry. It’s easy,’” Masear says.
Those who are grieving can grasp at any reason to be hopeful, she adds—which is something she knows from experience. Rescuing these miniature bejeweled birds helped her deal with her own childhood history of abuse, and later pulled her through the loss of her husband of 33 years, Frank, who died in June 2020. “I think they’re good for people. I really do,” says Masear, a former teacher of English as a second language who has been rescuing birds for nearly two decades. “I think they’re good for humans because they give everybody the opportunity to be compassionate.”
Vanity Fair: It’s the middle of winter, but we still have hummingbirds around Southern California. What do the wildfires mean for these creatures? Are many of them gone for the season anyway?
Terry Masear: Actually, most of the LA hummingbirds don’t migrate at all anymore because they have everything they need right there. So, they’re year-round residents. Fortunately this is pre-nesting season, but we’re right on the cusp. It will be starting in a few weeks. They are breeding now, they’re fighting like crazy around the feeders.
Can they escape even a fast-moving fire in gale-force winds?
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