The story you are about to read is REAL...an honest true story....no exaggeration...no literary liberties. Don and I were sitting on the patio to enjoy our morning coffee when I noticed a hummingbird perched on top of our feeder which is a very unusual spot for her to perch. She was making a strange squeaking sound instead of the usual hummingbird twitter so I dug out my binoculars to take a closer look. Oh my gosh! The poor bird's bottom beak was broken and hanging down at a very odd angle plus I could see her tongue bent off to one side all stiff and dried out.
Don carefully approached her, reached out and picked her up as she made no attempt to fly away. We ran inside to get an eye dropper and started to administer sugar water from the feeder. Her tongue finally absorbed the moisture and became pliable again. Once she regained use of the tongue, she would try to lap up the water on her own while still laying on her side in my hand.
Dr. Don (as I now call him) sprang into action by going door to door to the neighbors searching for someone who had some super glue. Ron (Popkorn) came to the rescue with a fresh tube and we very carefully raised the bottom beak and applied dabs of super glue under the beak. It worked! With the beak back in its normal position, the little bird could lap up the sugar water on her own without being force fed. After another few minutes, she regained strength and sat upright in my hand. We had done all we could do for the precious creature. I slowly opened my hand, she sat there a moment longer and then flew away into the Arizona blue sky. Whether or not she survived the ordeal, we'll never know but we did our best for one of nature's most delicate creatures. I regret that no photos were taken, but we were so busy "saving a life" that we never thought of a camera till all was done.
The hummingbirds that come to our feeder have become very tame as you can see from this picture. Our cat, Hiway, perches nearby but the birds just ignore her. We found this cute little feeder at Lowe's this week and couldn't resist. We bought a red plant to put on the patio table and hung this miniature feeder. Cute, huh!
Don carefully approached her, reached out and picked her up as she made no attempt to fly away. We ran inside to get an eye dropper and started to administer sugar water from the feeder. Her tongue finally absorbed the moisture and became pliable again. Once she regained use of the tongue, she would try to lap up the water on her own while still laying on her side in my hand.
Dr. Don (as I now call him) sprang into action by going door to door to the neighbors searching for someone who had some super glue. Ron (Popkorn) came to the rescue with a fresh tube and we very carefully raised the bottom beak and applied dabs of super glue under the beak. It worked! With the beak back in its normal position, the little bird could lap up the sugar water on her own without being force fed. After another few minutes, she regained strength and sat upright in my hand. We had done all we could do for the precious creature. I slowly opened my hand, she sat there a moment longer and then flew away into the Arizona blue sky. Whether or not she survived the ordeal, we'll never know but we did our best for one of nature's most delicate creatures. I regret that no photos were taken, but we were so busy "saving a life" that we never thought of a camera till all was done.
The hummingbirds that come to our feeder have become very tame as you can see from this picture. Our cat, Hiway, perches nearby but the birds just ignore her. We found this cute little feeder at Lowe's this week and couldn't resist. We bought a red plant to put on the patio table and hung this miniature feeder. Cute, huh!
