A little visitor

[Nova]

My husband found this hummingbird on the garage floor this morning. It was very weak. I set it up with sugar water in a hamster water bottle and kept trying to feed it several times an hour. It has been sitting on my counter since 7am, it is now 2pm. She looks a lot better and had even taken a couple short flights around the room but is very weak after doing so.

She is looking pretty good now but still only wants to eat and sleep. I don't blame her, today temps are at 100 and humidity sucks. She is enjoying lounging around being fed and not having to work for it. LOL

I really don't want to put her out yet with it being so hot. I guess she can stay a while longer.

 

[taherrmann4]

Nova that is really nice of you. But what are you going to do when she can fly and takes off in the house? How are you going to get her out of the house?

 

[Nova]

She is confined to the bathroom so she does not have that much room to fly so not hard to catch. My daughter just fed her and she is starting to stretch her wings and preen. I hope to she will be able to fly well enough this evening to let go.

 

[sissy]

I have a nest in my pine tree and good gosh there nests are tiny .Almost did't see it when I was watering

 

[stroppy]

aww shes so cute poor little thing, i hope she gets better

 

[j.w]

Here's a neat video I found on the net that might help you w/ your new little friend.

This is a baby hummingbird I rescued after it was attacked.
The song is "Better Together" by Jack Johnson.
UPDATE!!! when she thought she was ready to leave (and she was) she flew off to her favorite patch of the back yard, and her instincts instantly kicked in, and now she's just like all the other hummingbirds. for those that are concerned that she has imprinted on humans and wouldn't survive in the wild, don't worry, she is thriving. she has even successfully migrated and returned back to my yard. and for those who think i didn't know what i was doing, i did NOT feed her plain sugar water. i went outside 3 times a day and caught flies from my compost bin in big bags, crushed them, and mixed them in as well. I also helped her learn to catch flies while flying (not in the video because you obviously wouldn't be able to see the flies). in the end, i don't think it could have worked out any better.

[ame]

 

[addy1]

nice one jw!

So great of you nova, I love those little birds.

 

[Nova]

jw, that was great. A hummingbird we rescued many years ago would fly around the room then land on your hand. There is nothing like having a hummingbird return to your hand. You get the feeling of complete trust from the bird.

I just moved mine to an artificial tree and hung the water-bottle right next to it so it can eat whenever it needs to, which is about every 10-15 minutes.

 

[Nova]

jw, My daughter wants to know if that guy in the video is single. She said any girl watching that would fall in love with him. LOL

 

[addy1]

It must have been trapped and ran out of energy, they do eat constantly.

from some hummingbird research:

Energy storage keeps a hummingbird from starving, but not for long. The energy stored by the end of a day usually is just sufficient to survive overnight.

 

[j.w]

jw, My daughter wants to know if that guy in the video is single. She said any girl watching that would fall in love with him. LOL

That's too funny Nova..........girls always fall for a guy who is kind to animals and cute helps also :regular_waving_emot

Here's his utube channel if she would like to befriend him, :lol:

http://www.youtube.com/user/kandwarf

 

[sully]

hate to be a party pooper but not even hummingbirds can survive on plain sugar water

 

[Nova]

sully, no they can't but the bird will be released this morning. I was only refueling it. It had a quiet night and is looking good. Once it gets breakfast it will be on its way. If I was to keep it for a longer period of time I would have to add bugs to the mix. What it is being fed now is a hummingbird mix not just sugar water.

 

[Nova]

We let the bird go this morning. There were doubts when it flew two feet in the air then started slowing towards the ground, landing on my shirt. We took it out to a bush to sit on a branch but it started hovering then flew up high and out of sight.

 

[addy1]

Yeah Nova! way to go!