This is a different kind of success, but a success nevertheless. And some distance from the intent of this page, “Success”. However, here it is…
I’m about as far from a “birder” as you can be, birder being one who studies birds. But…
A Humming Bird (HB) flew into the garage. It happens infrequently and not always HB’s. Normally I use fishing net to capture the bird and release it outside. The HB was too small so it always flew out of the holes in the netting.
This went on for hours, I was pissed and the HB exhausted. It eventually landed on top of a container located near the garage ceiling, resting, or in torpor as it is called. With the help of a ladder I was able to pick it off the container with my hand.
So, go to the web for instructions – put it in a small box (used a motorcycle battery box), let it rest, feed it sugar-water, and when it’s recovered turn it loose. I fed it through a straw, from 8 to 11pm, on and off, it eventually did respond, enthusiastically drinking from the straw. Very cool! I called it a night putting a bottle cap of sugar-water in the box, hoping it would be alive in the morning. They can die in four hours if not fed due to their high rate of metabolism.
At 7 am it was very much awake, sitting on the edge of the bottle cap. I placed the box in a hedge row out back, opened the lid fully and off it went.
Very interesting birds –When hummingbirds migrate to the United States in the springtime, they cover 500 miles across the Gulf of Mexico, flying for 20 hours without stopping. In preparation for migration, a hummingbird will store half its body weight worth of fat. Hummingbirds migrate alone and not in flocks. Very commonly the males migrate first followed by the females.
http://hummingbirds.ucdavis.edu/hummingbird_information/interesting_facts.cfm
***** S&E *****
Success & Excess 