We had an influx of Hummingbirds this
year.
They have all left now we noticed,
except this one was found in our
garage above the garage door;
squeaking and sounding distressed.
Hubby picked up this bird and
placed it next to the feeder which
still had sugar water in it.
He had to position the tiny pointed long
bill into the drinking hole as this bird
was panting and worn out.
It fell off onto the deck floor a couple of
times in the early evening and we placed it back by the feeder
and by night time we positioned him
on the feeder deck for better support. He was breathing hard
but not moving and allowed us to pet him and put him back
on the feeder.
By morning this Hummingbird was gone.
It must of flown away and got some
energy back. We hope.
They are so tiny even to pick up this bird took a delicate
touch.
We pray he had the energy to drink through the
night and then flew off to his flock.
2 comments:
It's also important to know that birds this tiny are capable of going into "torpor" (a short form of hibernation) to conserve energy and food/water. If the bird seemed "dead" then it's a good chance it was in torpor. Also note that hummingbirds have a VERY fast breathing rate, however the breathing can dramatically go down during torpor to conserve oxygen which can create the illusion that it is "breathing hard". Also torpor greatly drops body temperature.
It's hard to figure out whether the bird survived or not. What kind of weather did you have recently? The weather may have influenced the hummer to go into torpor.
That is interesting Tom. Very interesting! The weather was calm cloudy. Quite a nice evening but cool All the other hummers had left a few days ago
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