Helping a Hummingbird

My boys have always enjoyed being outside, learning about animals and observing nature.  They each have their own area that they are interested in and I try to encourage that as much as possible.

We go on weekly walks and hikes looking for animals, new and unusual plants, or anything else that strikes us.  My boys are eager to share oddly shaped bark, sticks, pretty flowers or observations with one another.

They are naturalists by nature.

Yesterday our skills were really put to the test when we discovered we had, yet another, hummingbird stuck in our garage.  We always get at least a few stuck in there each year and we've gotten pretty good at coaxing them out.  Often we can put a hummingbird feeder or a bouquet of flowers near the door and they'll eventually fly out. Lured down by the food they find their way out and happily fly away.

Yesterday that bird was stuck in there almost all day.  It was so small and we felt so bad for it.

We eventually found him on the floor of the garage and we weren't sure if he was even still alive!  He was barely moving and his breathing was not obvious.

I encouraged Alec to GENTLY pick it up and carry it outside to the lawn.  I figured if it was dead we weren't hurting it, but if it was alive we might have a chance to set it free.

Normally we believe that nature is best observed and try not to interfere unless we know it's going to save the life of an animal.  (Like moving a sun turtle away from the road).  I figured this was one of those times where it certainly couldn't hurt to try and help. 

While Alec was getting the bird I went to get my phone and we Googled how to rehabilitate a hummingbird.

We read through all the steps and evaluated the bird with each one.  He appeared unharmed, but was not able (or willing) to fly away.  We assumed he was exhausted and a bit malnourished; after all if he had found his way to the hummingbird feeder he would have found his way out of the garage.

He could not support himself on his legs and even just holding him in Alec's hand the wind was knocking him over.  I was so afraid that he was beyond helping and we were all going to have a sad, sad memory of our day.

We read that if you gently hold the hummingbird's body and insert his beak into a hummingbird feeder; drawing it in and out you should be able to see the bird drinking.  Either his neck/ throat muscles would work and pulse very fast or else you would see his beak and tongue moving.  We weren't sure it was working at first but we kept trying.

Eventually he started fluttering his wings just a bit.  He tried to move and fell off Alec's fingers lightly onto the grass.  Luckily we were already on the ground and he only fell 1/2 inch or so.  He latched onto the grass but we could tell he was still pretty weak.

Ian coaxed the bird to let go of the grass and perch on his fingers.  He brought the bird right up to the edge of the feeder and after a lot of patient coaxing got the bird back onto the hummingbird feeder.

We could tell just the few sips he had had (with Alec's help) had helped perk him up tremendously.  We were hoping he'd drink more and be able to fly off.

Imagine our surprise when after a few more minutes and a few more test of his wings he just took off and zoomed into the sky.  Within moments he had flown so high and right out of sight.  

My boys were in awe of this miracle of nature and their part in it.  We were all overjoyed that we had helped this tiny little bird that looked like he was on the brink of death get back to health.

I know this is one of those lessons that they are never going to forget.  A totally unplanned but very important lesson.

It's also one we don't want to repeat so we're trying to be more vigilant about keeping our garage doors closed.  We had bought a few hummingbird feeders this year and placed them on the opposite side of the house in the hopes that we'd keep them away from our garage, but apparently that is not enough.

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