Dive into the day-to-day of a hummingbird rescue with ‘Every Little Thing’

A still from "Every Little Thing." Photo: Courtesy of the Sundance Institute

PARK CITY, Utah — “Every Little Thing,” a deeply moving documentary, tells the story of Terry Masear, who nurtures wounded hummingbirds back to health. The audience is treated to magnificent videos of the hummingbirds, their interactions with each other and with Masear.

Local rescue resources and more

The Park City Hummingbird hospital, which is now Park City Wildlife Rehab, receives about 1,800 calls per year, which includes all animals. Terry Masear, who lives in Los Angeles, receives 5,000 calls per year.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge,” Masear said.

Masear certainly doesn’t lack knowledge though. She has earned four advanced degrees and written a book on hummingbird rescue, entitled “Fastest Things on Wings.” In the movie, viewers see the methods Masear has devised to teach injured birds to fly again.

Telling the story of healing, joy and wonder

Director Sally Aitken provides insight into what it means to care for one another. Masear finds healing from events in her own past through her work with the hummingbirds. Aitken found a great way to tell this story. The audience feels so much empathy for the hummingbirds that they burst into applause when one of them finally dares to fly again.

When asked how she balanced the stories, Aitken said, “the balance didn’t come on the first cut… for the personal story, beautiful images, the information and archival footage… We wanted you to feel the story.”

Communicating with hummingbirds

Masear’s bond with her patients becomes very clear. She names them, and in the film you can clearly see their individual personalities. Most of the hummingbirds she rescues are local to the Los Angeles area, but occasionally there is one, who needs to migrate. Masear told the story of a black-chinned hummingbird, she called Blacktop, because its nest had fallen into fresh tar. Blacktop took a month to clean and spent two weeks outside the aviary before migrating to Mexico. One year after arriving at her place, Blacktop returned.

Viewing the movie

“Every Little Thing” has four more showings at the Sundance Film Festival, and one at the Park City Senior Center. It’s definitely worth watching. The hummingbirds featured will seem like close friends.