I saved a hummingbird last week. I was at work, with the door open because it was a nice day outside. A man named Dedrick lives in the apartment over my office, and he has a lot of bird feeders, including a big hummingbird-feeder that hangs in front of his kitchen window, right above my office door. The hummies like to chase each other around, and one flew by mistake into my office.
I thought it would fly out again by itself, so I turned off the office lights, pulled down the window-blinds so it wouldn't crash into the windows, and opened the door all the way. But it didn't fly out - it flew near the door, but the ceiling is higher than the top of the door, and it couldn't seem to figure out that it had to fly lower. Finally it settled on the edge of one of the ceiling lights and just clung there.
I let it rest a little, then climbed up on a chair and tried to very gently shoo it out the door with a box. This just scared it, though; it flew farther back in my office, chirping in a frightened way, till it came to rest on top of a high shelf.
I climbed up on the chair again to look at it, but didn't touch it - it was so tiny, I was afraid I'd hurt it. Also I knew that hummingbirds have to eat all the time, because they burn up so much energy, and I was afraid that if I scared it into flying around again, it would sort of 'run out of gas' and maybe die. So instead I went up the stairs to Dedrick's apartment and knocked on his door.
He's a very nice man, and knows a lot about birds. When I told him what had happened, he took down the big hummingbird-feeder and brought it down to my office. He climbed up on the chair and very, very gently picked up the little hummie with a paper towel. It didn't move or try to fly at all, poor thing; it must have been so tired.
We went outside and I held the feeder while he held the bird's little beak to one of the feeder openings, so it could get a drink of hummingbird food. Then after about a minute, suddenly.... hummmmm!... off it soared into the sunlit treetops, looking like a tiny green living jewel. So Dedrick went back upstairs, and I went back to work, and everyone was happy.
The hummie was a female Calliope - you can see pictures of them here (http://www.schmoker.org/BirdPics/CAHU.html). *smiles* Have a great day, fellow helper of wild creatures!
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2005-06-24 03:33 pm (UTC)I saved a hummingbird last week. I was at work, with the door open because it was a nice day outside. A man named Dedrick lives in the apartment over my office, and he has a lot of bird feeders, including a big hummingbird-feeder that hangs in front of his kitchen window, right above my office door. The hummies like to chase each other around, and one flew by mistake into my office.
I thought it would fly out again by itself, so I turned off the office lights, pulled down the window-blinds so it wouldn't crash into the windows, and opened the door all the way. But it didn't fly out - it flew near the door, but the ceiling is higher than the top of the door, and it couldn't seem to figure out that it had to fly lower. Finally it settled on the edge of one of the ceiling lights and just clung there.
I let it rest a little, then climbed up on a chair and tried to very gently shoo it out the door with a box. This just scared it, though; it flew farther back in my office, chirping in a frightened way, till it came to rest on top of a high shelf.
I climbed up on the chair again to look at it, but didn't touch it - it was so tiny, I was afraid I'd hurt it. Also I knew that hummingbirds have to eat all the time, because they burn up so much energy, and I was afraid that if I scared it into flying around again, it would sort of 'run out of gas' and maybe die. So instead I went up the stairs to Dedrick's apartment and knocked on his door.
He's a very nice man, and knows a lot about birds. When I told him what had happened, he took down the big hummingbird-feeder and brought it down to my office. He climbed up on the chair and very, very gently picked up the little hummie with a paper towel. It didn't move or try to fly at all, poor thing; it must have been so tired.
We went outside and I held the feeder while he held the bird's little beak to one of the feeder openings, so it could get a drink of hummingbird food. Then after about a minute, suddenly.... hummmmm!... off it soared into the sunlit treetops, looking like a tiny green living jewel. So Dedrick went back upstairs, and I went back to work, and everyone was happy.
The hummie was a female Calliope - you can see pictures of them here (http://www.schmoker.org/BirdPics/CAHU.html). *smiles* Have a great day, fellow helper of wild creatures!