More Hummingbird stuff

Imagine being an animal weighing less than an ounce and having to make an 18 to 20 hour, non-stop trip from South America across the Gulf of Mexico to South Florida. That's what our little Rubythroated Hummingbirds do every winter.

I basically knew nothing about hummingbirds until last summer other than I had seen a few in Jamaica and in the Bahamas. Then we bought our first feeder and visited the web site hummingbirds.net and a whole new world opened up to me. These little birds are truely a joy to watch and associate with.

I spent a good deal of time doing research on the Internet and happened to read an article about hummers getting trapped in garages. Little did I know that within months I would be using the information to save a bird.

You see, Hummingbirds instinctively fly straight up when they are threatened. For some reason, in spite of seeing an opening ahead or below their position, their little brains tell them that the route to safety is up.

Last fall Pat and I were visiting my mother at her farm in south Alabama. I was doing some repair work on her poolhouse and had spent the day with the garage doors open on the garage and coincidentally I had cleaned and refilled her hummingbird feeder located between the pool and the garage. Late in the afternoon, when I was cleaning up from the day's activities, I walked into the garage and was greeted by the sight of a hummingbird bouncing off of the ceiling and flourescent light fixtures in a panic to escape.

What ensued was a ten minute scramble with my mother moving her car out of the garage and Pat jumping around on her tip toes and me scrambling up and down a step stool trying to capture or "herd" the little bird out of the garage. The problem was that with both of the garage doors open the bird kept going over the doors rather than under them.

We finally ended up turning the lights on, closing the garage doors, and I climbed on the step stool and captured the little male Ruby Throat with my bare hands and carried him outside. He was so tiny and fragile, but he survived the incident and hauled butt out of sight as soon as I let him go in the front yard.

We are so happy that "our" birds are back for the season here.