I got to hold a hummingbird recently

Last week our garage door became disabled and I couldn't lower it all the way.
I was inside the garage trying to mess with it when I heard a sound on a shelf. I looked over and a hummingbird was in distress.
It must have gotten into the garage and couldn't get out again. It was exhausted. It was clinging onto the top of a spray bottle of something just barely alive.
I knew it probably needed to get something to eat with their high metabolism I figured they must need to eat often.
But looking at the long beak as she lay in the palm of my hand I didn't think that was possible.
I cupped my hand around her and brought her into my house, which has resident cats there.
I was afraid to let her in there as she might escape my hand and become catfood.
As I looked for solutions to the problem I noticed a spray bottle I keep handy with water in it. I selected the fine mist and took her outdoors. I noticed she had some webs on her from inside the garage so I brushed them away from her flight feathers.
She was a brilliant green and reminded me of a cicada in size, but very much slimmer.
I have a feeder for hummers, but never got to examine one so closely before. I couldn't even feel any weight in my hand. They are so light and it felt like a feather in my hand.
After brushing away the webs I let her lay in my hand. Her eyes were bright and alert, she just wasn't moving. I examined her feathers to make sure they were no breaks or blood coming from them.
From accessing her I felt she was just very tired and hungry and disoriented. I used the spray bottle to cool her off and she immediately ruffled her feathers and buzzed her wings.
She still just sat in my palm.
After a while I tried to place her on a twig and she finally took off at about a quarter of her usual speed toward the woods.
I hope she fully recovered as I think she did once she got a meal in her.
I still see a female at the feeder and hope it is her.
It was such a cool experience to actually see a hummingbird so closely. They are so pretty and dainty, no bigger than a bug. lol
Just thought I would share my closeup encounter. I didn't take a picture because I was more focused on her getting her life back than anything else.

Windy- This happened to me, too, except the little hummer would not perk up - she seemed barely alive. So, I tried feeding her with sugar-water from an eye dropper. At first, she did not respond, so I VERY gently pried her beak apart the tiniest bit, & dropped some nectar right into it. She began sticking her tongue out, taking the nectar right from the dropper, & "ate" for several minutes, resting in between. After about 10 minutes, she flew off - what a wondrous thing to be a part of! : ) Samantha

This message was edited Aug 10, 2008 5:32 PM

Thank you for sharing, that is cool. I got "buzzed" by a hummerbird yesterday. I was on my porch and it came to check me out.

I do not have any hummingbird feeder out since I know how terrible I am about CONSISTENCY and I do not want to create a problem by not keeping it clean and changed enough. We have butterfly bushes and the hummerbird has been coming to feed from them.

Oh Good job Windy ! Thanks for sharing your story... I've heard others having the same experience, in the garage and wrapped with webs.

Yeah, the web seemed like it could pose a problem. Some of those webs are pretty strong and sticky.
I have had pet birds in the past and know how they can become sick just from stress.

I had a hummer get caught in my garage last summer. The problem is they do not know how to go "down" so they just keep flying "up" and never make it out of the garage. Mine too was exhausted and hanging upside down on a wire. I got him down and held him for a few mins till he perked back up. After resting he was on his way!

i adopted a few hummers here in Arl,Tx. It is summersend n the flowers are winding down, so i added a feeder off the edge of the porch. I've spotted 3 diff birds, they hole up in the deep heat of day, but they r back way earlier than I am b4 dawn. I'll speak to them and coo at how pretty they r n they'll fly over n chitter at me, but my DH has a running battle with them-he swears they attack him n try to pull his hair out, so my home feeders aren't on the porches. too much sugar in the nectar sets a bacteria too fast in hi humidity n full sun, plus the nectar overheats fast in 103 degree weather. City hummers lose their fear fast with us old folx out bragging at them!

I was out pulling a few weeds and came to a stop when about three foot from me a hummer was checking me out. We were near a Turk's Cap which they love. It decided I was ok and went back to the nectar. He hit about a dozen flowers and stop to look at me, then back again sipping nectar. Finally he flew off to the Red Penta and I was able to move once more. Of course I didn't have the camera!

Here is a picture of a butterfly my husband took while it say on a coneflower. He said that while he was taking it, a hummer came into view. I searched the picture and finally spotted the hummer. It has a dark head and is facing to the left. Can you spot him?

oh yes, I see him there !

Sheila, isn't that the way it always is - no camera, or the battery is dead ! :)

I see him. Try cropping the picture with him and the bf closer and save under a different name.

on my screen he is right next to the m in the copyright.

I think you might also have a warbler in that photo, on the left above the butterfly, there's a patch of yellow, when I zoomed it in, I could see a little face and the chest area. Anybody else sees it? I see the little hummer.

There are yellowing leaves in there, but no warbler. It is a mishmash of honeysuckle John Clayton and Dropmore intertwining with some morning glories.
I haven't seen any yellow birds except for the goldfinches, which are pretty cool.

Could of fool me, LOL pretty cool pic of where's waldo though. neat pic.

Windy
I think that is so fantastic that you got to hold a hummingbird and took the time/effort to get her back on her way. I am just fascinated with those little creatures. I hope she comes back to your yard & gives you hours of enjoyment. Mine just flitter in and out (I think the dogs scare them away) and the heat/sun dries up the liquid so fast I'm constantly changing it.

My feeder has three feeding stations on it. When I took it down to refill it the string holding it repostioned the stations. They like to feed on the one that is furthest away from sight. I was going to try to reposition it for them, but then decided I had to draw the line somewhere.lol
I am already catering to the dogs and cats I have, and told my husband I don't need wild things dictating to me.
She flew up to where she usually sat and just flitted in the air as if that was the only position she wanted to use. After a little twittering, she finally accepted that she had to either eat at a new one or forget it.
I remember when we were kids and had a favorite spot at the dinner table. Yep, I am old enough to have the memory of sit down meals at the kitchen table, home cooked too. LOL

How cool, Windy! I had a similar thing happen to me a while back. But this little guy was just out sitting on my walkway. I went to take a couple of pictures, and noticed that it didn't really matter how close I got..it wasn't going to move. So I thought the very same thing, that it was just distressed. I picked it up and held it!! It seemed to just settle right into my hand. I also brought it in the house, just trying to figure out what the heck to do with it. I was going to get it some sugar water, as I had some already made up in the fridge, but didn't want it to get loose in my house. I found a shoe box to put it in, but as soon as I did, I saw it stick it's beak out the side where the lid was not shut tightly. I immediately took it back outside, box and all...lifted the lid and away it flew. Landed on a branch of my Desert Willow tree..sat for a few, then flew away like nothing had happened. While in my house, I was able to grab my camera again, and got this shot.

Here it was still on the walkway

Did it hit a window or some structure maybe?

I have no idea. It obviously had been happily eating not too very long before the picture was taken, judging by all the pollen on it's little beak. I think it had been stunned in some way, but after it's little break with me..it flew away like nothing had happened :)

Maybe one of the rude "neighbors" dive bombed him! They are always fighting over flowers or feeders here.

Yep, they do here, too. I call the dive bomber "birdzilla"

I wonder if it is a baby and was just learning to fly. Is it a hummer?
Mine didn't have all the brilliant colors, but its feathers were sleek to the body and not fluffed out. It also had a longer bill.
It almost looks like a baby the way it is sitting, almost as if it is used to begging for food.

Yes, it is a hummer, definitely. I don't think it was a baby, though. It was just fluffed up while it was sitting on the walkway. Once it flew to the branch, it had "un puffed". It definitely had been eating on it's own, because you can see all the pollen on it's beak. I see that often in my yard with all the hummers.

I see you livein Arizona. Make sure there is plenty of water available for the birds. When I raised finches, they would puff up like that when they would need more water. It would be hard for a finch or any other bird to keep hydrated with the heat there.
What kind of hummer is it?
My males have a ruby throat and the females are just the same except they don't have a ruby throat, just a hint of ruby under their necks.

I don't know what kind it is, actually. I have a lot of birds that visit my yard, as I keep both hummingbird feeders filled, as well as seed and thistle feeders.

I thougth I would do a search on Youtube and came up with this one. Really neat. I always wondered what bebies looked like.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG59PaCiiDg
Isn't it cool how the beak gets long as they grow. The mother is a really good one as she makes sure at one point that the babies each get fed. She moves to the side of the greedy one to feed the other one. LOL