senoritafish | A close encounter of the feathered kind (Reply)

When I got home from work today, Angus and Gareth ran excitedly down the walk as I came in the gate, and told me there was a hummingbird on the patio! I thought maybe a moth had gotten trapped in the skylight again, but sure enough there was the poor hummer sitting on the ledge at the side. She (or maybe he; it might have been an immature male) sat there breathing hard for a moment, looking at us, then buzzed up to the top of the skylight and bumped against it, trying to fly through, not hard enough brain herself, but she had done it enough times the feathers on her head were standing up straight. She settled on the ledge again, quite tuckered out, tired enough to not bother folding up her wings - they were sticking straight out from her sides. She must have been an immature bird, or not familiar with the area; many hummers fly onto our patio looking for food, but most are not fooled by the skylights and fly out under the eaves. I went inside to look for the butterfly net, which we keep for just such a purpose; I rescued a swallowtail and a fritillary butterfly a few weeks ago. The kids had misplaced it, though, so I grabbed the kitchen broom and the one out of Dad's bathroom, took them outside. When she took off again, I was able to gently bring the two brooms together and capture her between the bristles. I cupped her between my hands, but I didn't want to hold her too long and continue stressing her. I had Dad quickly mix up a small cup of sugar water, and dribbled some on her beak. I don't know if she got any in her (I did see her poke out her tiny tongue a few times), but after sitting in my hands for a minute, she perked up enough to start struggling. I took her onto the walkway, out from under the roof, and opened up my hands. She immediately buzzed off over the neighbor's roof, and away to the north. I watched until the tiny dot disappeared, which for a hummer, isn't long. I hope she found a suitable snack before it got dark to build up her energy reserves.

Angus was very upset I had let the hummer go; for some reason he was convinced she was going to die (this has been a continuing theme ever since Jay's death). I tried to explain she was wild animal, and could take care of herself much better than we ever could, but he was too upset to listen. To calm him down, I took him inside, and started boiling some water. As soon as it boiled, I measured out 2 cups, added 1/2 a cup of sugar and had him stir it until it dissolved, saying we would fill up the two feeders we have and maybe she would come back for a snack. He cheered up at that.

I had left my bird book at work, so I looked up Chloe's hummingbird site which has good descriptions of western hummers. She had a green back, white belly and green streaks on her throat, rusty tail feathers with black on the ends and tipped with white. She could have been a rufous or an Allen's; females and immatures of that genus are almost identical. From the maps, though, rufous hummers range is in the Pacific Northwest, and they migrate down the Rocky Mountains to Mexico to winter, so she was most likely an Allen's hummingbird. I know we are suppose to have a resident population, but this was the first time I had seen any other kind but an Anna's, which are very common around here.

I wish I could have gotten some pictures, but I knew small hands had taken the batteries out of my camera. But I still feel quite privileged to gotten such a close look at her.