Several people have been interested in these little fellows and made me recall an event that I'd like to share. Hummingbirds can get quite tame as they get so accustomed to a person they see all the time that they well come down and peer into my sunglasses to see their "rival" in the lenses. They also like to have me set the hose on mist and hold it up for them so that they can get a bath on a hot afternoon. I think of them as pets almost.
My hummingbird story started one day when I caught a baby hummingbird. I was about 12 years old. The poor little bird had been being chased by an older one and was exhausted. I reached up and plucked it from a branch. We gave it several drinks of sugar water from a flower from mother's garden and watched it perched with it's tiny feet on a twig I'd pushed through the plastic slats of one of those strange plastic basket purses that all girls seemed to have in that era.
Being 12years old, I thought I could keep this little wild bird, and was on my way to get a cage for it when I tripped on the lawn - I still think an angel did this- and fell; the purse was pinched open, and away flew the hummingbird by this time totally revived. I was so stunned and disappointed that I just sat on the grass for minutes til my brain started working again and allowed me to come to the conclusion that all was for the best. Such a delicate and sweet wild bird should not be a captive. I will never forget my sweet baby hummingbird who shared life with my brother, sister and me for about an hour that day.
Hi Zippiana,
ReplyDeleteThat was a great story about the hummingbird. I see you have near your home. Is the cove near your home? I like your anti olympics button. Might see if I can get one
What a wonderful story! It amazes me that at 12, you knew exactly what to do to get that little guy back on his feet, so to speak. I also didn't know that hummingbirds are such trusting fellows!
ReplyDeleteHi JoanM, trish, and Karen. I'm glad you all liked the story. I can still remember that fall I took, and the disappointment.
ReplyDeleteKaren, the little bird was about to go into torpor, I think, as he was flat out exhausted. I was told about this later. I'd been following the battle for several minutes, sitting right under the bush, and he landed nearly at my eye level. I think there was a hummingbird guardian watching over him, because usually you can't lay a finger on them. I remember seeing somewhere, a Nature program on PBS maybe, that some hummingbirds have become so tame that they will sit on the edge of a spoon and drink from it! In this case, he was a baby and would probably have died. I think regarding feeding the hummer, my brother and I knew they were nectar eaters and sugared water might be good. Happily we didn't make the mistake of giving him honey water, which you shouldn't do. I'm glad to this day that he got away.
JoanM, the two pictures of the Costa's hummingbird were taken by me at my house. He is sitting on a old christmas lights strand near the tag, and feeding at our backyard feeder. Regarding China Cove, it is a long ways up the coast from me, about 500 miles I think. But the blog header picture is in Torrey Pines Preserve, closer to my home.
The button is from the Knottygirls.com site. I hope you go look at all their Olympic buttons as they did a great job on them. That one was the funniest one, I think. Lol