VANCOUVER, B.C.— After he first saw the bird in his backyard, Jorge Parra didn’t give it a second thought. “OK, whatever,” Jorge recalls thinking, before breaking into a big smile. “And then all of a sudden, we looked and went, ‘There’s a nest!’” A small nest was being built in their tree by a hummingbird who Jorge and his wife named Amore. “(The nest) is getting bigger and bigger, and we’re going, ‘Wow! This is amazing!’” And after Amore completed construction, she ensured the nest started getting fuller and fuller. “Next thing you know, there’s an egg,” Jorge beams. “We saw the egg!” And then there were two eggs the same size as Tic Tacs, before they cracked open to reveal two siblings no bigger than jellybeans. “Oh! There’s the baby!” Jorge smiles. “Such an incredible little creature came out of that egg!” Jorge and his wife named the first baby Pickle, before calling the second one Jellybean. “I don’t want to be the only one enjoying it,” Jorge said. “I want everyone else to be enjoying it.” So, Jorge set-up a camera, focused it on the feathered family, and started streaming a live feed of them daily. The video captured Amore as she built her home and fed her babies, before documenting how Pickle and Jellybean are flourishing. “You see these little creatures, and you just can’t help but smile,” Jorge says. But Jorge never imagined how just how helpful those smiles would be for the hundreds of people who started watching his video in 13 countries around the world. “They say, ‘Yes, there’s a war going on. But you know what? This gives me a break.’” And watching how well this mother cares for her kids, and seeing how these siblings encourage each other to spread their wings, gives them hope “It’s just time for people to just forget about all the bad stuff,” Jorge says. “Watch nature. Watch beauty. Watch life grow.” And know that even when it seems like everything is going wrong, if you take the time to look, you can always find something to remind you that everything will work out right. “These little creatures are bringing joy and peace,” Jorge smiles.
