On June 9th in 1832, a young naturalist named Charles Darwin took a hike up to a granite peak called Pedra de Gavia, which looms over the crashing waves of the Brazilian coast.

The air was cool and fragrant with the scent of tropical flowers as Darwin climbed through the forest.

Along the way, he encountered hummingbirds.

This is what he wrote in his journal about his experience with these little birds.

As we passed along, we were amused by watching the hummingbirds.

I counted four species.

The smallest, at but a short distance, precisely resembles in its habits and appearance a sphinx

moth. The wings move so rapidly that they were scarcely visible, and so remaining stationary,

the little bird darted its beak into the wild flowers, making an extraordinary buzzing noise

at the same time, with its wings. Those that I have met with frequent shaded and retired forests, and may

there be seen chasing away the rival butterfly. Darwin was just 23 years old at the time.

This was early in his famous round-the-world voyage on the HMS Beagle. Every day he was experiencing

creatures and ecosystems that were, to him, new and wildly exotic.

Many of these had never been documented in any scientific way.

Can you imagine how amazing it must have been for Darwin to see hummingbirds for the first time

in such a wild and beautiful place as that seaside mountain in Brazil?

Hummingbirds have since become adored by

people across the planet. They're among the superstars of the bird world, in terms of how much

attention they get from humans. Those of us living in the Americas are lucky that we get to see

hummingbirds regularly, or at least occasionally. Even if the world had only one hummingbird species, it would be something to celebrate.

But we have hundreds of species.

We are almost overflowing with hummingbirds.

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