Didn't Know About Propylene Glycol

January 17, 2010 7:34 PM

Hummer Ices-up, Crashes, Recovers (SLCCTP)
posted by ZenMasterThis (24 comments total)

Why didn't you go south, little dude?
posted by Burhanistan at 7:39 PM on January 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'll get this out of the way.. no, it's not about an offensive large vehicle.
posted by edgeways at 7:44 PM on January 17, 2010 [2 favorites]

Why didn't you go south, little dude?

From the article: Omar's hummingbird was completely dependent on her feeder and visited it every five to 10 minutes from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

It's a neat story (neatly told!) but that sort of tinges it for me. Little thrum should've been down in Margaritaville.
posted by carsonb at 7:55 PM on January 17, 2010

(SLCCTP)

Slightly Lame Capital Concatenating Thread Presentation?
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:06 PM on January 17, 2010

I read that as "Hammer Ices-up, Crashes, Recovers" and mumbled "DEPLOY PARACHUTE PANTS!".
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 8:42 PM on January 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

I read that as "Hummer Ices-up, Crashes, Recovers" and mumbled "Bastard shoulda totalled it."
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 8:51 PM on January 17, 2010

I read that as "Hummer Ices-up, Crashes, Recovers" and mumbled "Bastard shoulda totalled it."

I, too, expected to see a video of an SUV spinning out in an ice storm.
posted by Forktine at 8:58 PM on January 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

Heart-warming story and all, but I wish the author had mentioned that leaving your hummingbird feeder out in the winter is a terrible idea because then the birds won't migrate and they freeze to death.

Please take in your hummingbird feeders BEFORE it gets cold, so the little guys will migrate.

This public service announcement brought to you by a guy who enjoys sitting on his deck in the summer watching the hummingbirds.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 9:06 PM on January 17, 2010 [2 favorites]

BitterOldPunk: Do you have a source/news article for that? I believe you, but I want to get my folks to stop, but I need some evidence.
posted by floam at 9:22 PM on January 17, 2010

Well, floam, after googling around a bit it seems that I am totally wrong. I've always taken my feeders in. But there's plenty of evidence that leaving them out won't affect migration. From hummingbirds.net:

When the bird is fat enough, it migrates. It's not necessary to take down feeders to force hummingbirds to leave, and in the fall all the birds at your feeder are already migrating anyway. If you remove your feeder, birds will just feed elsewhere, but may not bother to return to your yard the next year. I recommend continuing to maintain feeders until freezing becomes a problem.

So I guess I was repeating folk wisdom as fact. But I'm still taking my feeders in at the first frost.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 10:35 PM on January 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

According to the video, this particular species being in New England at all is some kind of freak occurrence; they summer in California and winter in Mexico, usually. It seems unlikely that the bird would have made it back where it belonged even without presence of the feeder. I wonder how he wound up there.....
posted by frobozz at 10:44 PM on January 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

Birder: It's 2000 miles to Mexico, we've got a full tank of gas, half a bottle of nectar, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses.
Hummingbird: Hit it.
posted by pracowity at 12:00 AM on January 18, 2010 [5 favorites]

He came for the chowdah, stayed for the nectah.
posted by minimii at 4:37 AM on January 18, 2010 [3 favorites]

Here's a CapeCast video update, with defrosted hummingbird rehab info.
posted by steef at 5:42 AM on January 18, 2010

Awwww. :) Glad the little guy's (girl's?) okay.
posted by zarq at 7:02 AM on January 18, 2010

Damn, I was so ready to be all HURF DURF SPORT UTILITY DOOFUS, and then explain how a Prius's VSC, narrower tires, and high torque from the electric motor would have avoided the accident in the first place.
posted by mccarty.tim at 8:16 AM on January 18, 2010

CAPE CAST! That was great, thanks.
posted by sararah at 8:19 AM on January 18, 2010

Tim - would love to hear your explanation of why higher torque would result in less likelihood of loss of control on ice - when the conventional wisdom says otherwise (ie, you generally want to be in the highest gear possible, to lower the amount of torque you can deliver to the wheels, thus lessening the chance of breaking traction and causing a wheelspin).

Also - VSC is great, but still does now allow one to violate the laws of physics.
posted by kcds at 9:23 AM on January 18, 2010

I'm contacting the trades description people.
posted by Hartham's Hugging Robots at 9:46 AM on January 18, 2010

It's safe to say that both a Hummer and a Prius could equally smush a hummingbird.
posted by Burhanistan at 9:51 AM on January 18, 2010

California has permanent populations of Annas -- our feeder stays out, and stays busy, all year round.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 5:04 PM on January 18, 2010

I'm still taking my feeders down at the first frost too. Don't want to tempt a young 'un to push the line.
posted by chance at 7:16 PM on January 18, 2010

very surprised at the lack of didn't-rtfa OH MAN WHAT ASSHOLE WOULD DRIVE A HUMMER IN THIS ECONOMY WITH THE ENVIRONMENT THE WAY IT IS AND GAS PRICES etc comments
posted by tehloki at 9:29 PM on January 18, 2010

Yay little bird!
posted by Mister_A at 6:39 AM on January 19, 2010