Rescued hummingbird

October 28, 2010 1:54 PM

Rescued hummingbird. (SLYT)
posted by hippybear (77 comments total)

♥!!!
posted by JHarris at 1:59 PM on October 28, 2010 [4 favorites]

the perfect antidote for narcoleptic kittens.
posted by crunchland at 2:02 PM on October 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

That video made my heart flutter 12 times per second.
posted by Astro Zombie at 2:02 PM on October 28, 2010

One of the things that makes a man a man is his gentleness. The kid in this video is a real man.
posted by Xoebe at 2:03 PM on October 28, 2010 [16 favorites]

ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! so lovely.
posted by dougzilla at 2:06 PM on October 28, 2010

SO TINY AND PERFECT AND WEE

Sideline Hummingbirds are awesome, but they are also tiny jerks. Even with a glut of feeders they'll fight each other for the sole purpose of being tiny sugar-addled jerks.
posted by The Whelk at 2:07 PM on October 28, 2010 [2 favorites]

Jack Johnson ruined that video.
posted by Fizz at 2:08 PM on October 28, 2010 [17 favorites]

That is beyond awesome. I rescued a fledgling finch that fell into the pool at my apartment complex a few months ago. I was so scared that he wasn't going to make it or wasn't going to be able to fly but he pulled through with a courage I feel fortunate to have witnessed. There is a video of him stretching out his wings that I can't find right now but, if I can, I'd like to share two pictures of him. This is of him with his eyes shut tight trying to muster the strength to stretch his newly dried wings and this is of him after he returned to a tree with his family later that day.
posted by inconsequentialist at 2:11 PM on October 28, 2010 [12 favorites]

Yay!
posted by rtha at 2:12 PM on October 28, 2010

O_O

oh...
posted by Baby_Balrog at 2:18 PM on October 28, 2010

+++ Glycemic Index bounds exceeded +++
posted by Artw at 2:20 PM on October 28, 2010 [5 favorites]

I move that we get a post like this immediately following every single miserable Tea Party, election, and outragefilter post on MetaFilter from now on, in perpetuity. Who's with me?
posted by Gator at 2:23 PM on October 28, 2010 [29 favorites]

I like how the hummingbird has decided that the guy's right hand is its natural habitat.

And the feeding with an eyedropper brings back memories. When I was a kid and we moved down south, my cat, who has been raised in an apartment up to that point, had the instinct to pick up things but that was about it. She did not know how to hunt or kill, but if a bug walked by, she might pick it up and, mrrrhing, carry it over to us for praise. Whatever it was would be unharmed.

At some point, a baby flying squirrel was on the ground. The cat picked it up and brought it in, then wailed for attention. Not a scratch on the little guy. We could not locate the nest and knew it had to be fed immediately, it was so tiny. I got the idea of thoroughly cleaning out the eyedropper from my chemistry set and my mother went out for puppy formula. We kept it warm and full. The vet soon gave us some particular formula to use (puppy formula, long-term, is bad for growing squirrels), suggested that it was small enough to have been kicked out of the nest as a runt, but had no other ideas on what to do with the thing (now they have wildlife rehab for this).

As the squirrel grew, he and the cat would have chase scenes across the house. She would chase him, then he would lose her. She'd wander around, puzzled, until he would do a surprise bombing and glide onto her back, at which point she would freak and run around with his tiny squirrel digits hanging onto her neckfur. They were like more mellow Tom and an aerial Jerry. The squirrel was capable of holding onto more surfaces than you might think, including the rough clumps of paint on the ceiling a few times.

That's how I ended up with a flying squirrel as a pet. He later decided his natural habitat was my shirt. The outside of my shirt, my shirt pocket, the inside of my shirt ...
posted by adipocere at 2:28 PM on October 28, 2010 [105 favorites]

It completely blows my mind that if you went far enough back down that thing's family tree, you'd get a dinosaur.
posted by Greg Nog at 2:30 PM on October 28, 2010 [16 favorites]

I don't think I'd want to meet a 50-foot hummingbird, hovering like a helicopter and sucking entire herds dry like an iridescent mosquito
posted by The Whelk at 2:32 PM on October 28, 2010 [7 favorites]

Took me to two minutes nine seconds to realize there was nothing to hate on. I'm going to turn on local news, just to get my bearings back.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 2:32 PM on October 28, 2010 [7 favorites]

> Sideline Hummingbirds are awesome, but they are also tiny jerks. Even with a glut of feeders they'll fight each other for the sole purpose of being tiny sugar-addled jerks.

This is their idea of fun. And, if you watch them long enough they eventually take breaks from sparring and let everyone have a turn at the feeder.
posted by Burhanistan at 2:46 PM on October 28, 2010 [3 favorites]

Hummingbirds are amazing creatures. Because their wings beat so fast and require so much energy, they have to eat the human equivalent of something like 50 hot fudge sundaes every day. It's like OK God, what did You specifically have in mind when You created this one?
posted by Melismata at 2:47 PM on October 28, 2010 [2 favorites]

As opposed to Rufous hummingbirds, who don't take those breaks and will dominate a yard or two from a utility wire just because they're selfish assholes.
posted by hippybear at 2:48 PM on October 28, 2010 [4 favorites]

Previously.

As for being selfish assholes, I'm no evolutionary biologist, but I'm pretty sure that's an adaptation.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 2:54 PM on October 28, 2010

I hope he's feeding that thing some small bugs in addition to sugar water. They do need some protein.
posted by Burhanistan at 2:54 PM on October 28, 2010

Jack Johnson ruined that video.

And you just shit in this thread.

I thought the music choice was great. Much love for that young man and his baby hummingbird.
posted by morganannie at 3:09 PM on October 28, 2010 [2 favorites]

I feel brand new.
posted by grar at 3:13 PM on October 28, 2010 [2 favorites]

> As for being selfish assholes, I'm no evolutionary biologist, but I'm pretty sure that's an adaptation.

Gordon Gecko Hummingbird. Yes, I know it's "Gekko".
posted by Burhanistan at 3:15 PM on October 28, 2010

First we got one feeder. There were battles and fighting. So we got another feeder. The battles continued. And then we got a third feeder. Fighting never let up. It's been years. Such is the nature of the rufus.
posted by VikingSword at 3:17 PM on October 28, 2010

More please! MORE. The only thing that can possibly satisfy me ever again is more baby hummingbird. Also, more stories about pet fly squirrels. More of all of that, please.
posted by stoneweaver at 3:19 PM on October 28, 2010 [3 favorites]

Hummingbirds are so evasive when it comes to the objects in their environment, especially other animals, and they exhibit such skillful flight maneuvers that I was prone to doubt their capacity for such prolonged and touchingly intimate engagement with something so unlike and so often avoided by them. I know that my boyfriend has struggled endlessly trying to simply capture a single, recognizable shot of a hummingbird with his camera. When they do pose for him, he gets a beautiful picture of the moment they've given him.

But to see a bird like that, after having been attacked, surrender to the attention and will of a thing it has every reason to fear and go on to receive its care and concern, to be loved and saved without asking or ability to repay the grand favor is truly to see what it means for an impossibly small faith to be divinely rewarded. There is something holy in the trust and connection between such separate but living creatures.
posted by inconsequentialist at 3:20 PM on October 28, 2010 [12 favorites]

Four feeders. Two big "Flying Saucer" feeders and two window feeders on separate sides of the house. The Rufous still argue.. Nature of the *Beast*...
posted by jgaiser at 3:23 PM on October 28, 2010

No squirrels, but my sister and I kept raccoons when we were kids.
My dad told us he had a surprise for us one day, and he plopped a baby coon in each of our outstretched hands. I suspect he might have accidentally dispatched their mother with his oldsmobile. It was a boy raccoon and a girl raccoon so we named them Bonnie and Clyde.
Our uncle was a small animal vet and he checked them out regularly for various raccoon-related ailments. Raccoons are smart! They litter-trained in short order. They'd sit in the window everyday and wait for us to get off the school bus and when we came through the front door they'd bound through the house and climb up on us. Then we'd watch cartoons together. My raccoon even liked to sit on my head with his paws draped down to the sides like a living coonskin hat.
Eventually they started playing outside more and more often, until eventually they'd only show up every couple of days. After a couple of years they went native and we didn't really see them any more. But it was awesome.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 3:35 PM on October 28, 2010 [35 favorites]

Yay baby hummingbird! I was lucky enough to have a hummingbird nest right outside my bedroom window this summer. At first both babies were able to fit side by side in the half-walnut sized nest but as they grew bigger, they took turns being 'baby bird in nest' and 'baby bird sitting on top of baby bird in nest'. When the babies started to test their wings, they would hold tight to the lip of the nest and flap: eventually they got strong enough that they were lifting the top part of the nest right off.

Even after they fledged, the babies returned to the nest every day for the rest of the summer and I'd occasionally find one sitting in the nest, I guess for old time's sake.
posted by jamaro at 3:37 PM on October 28, 2010 [3 favorites]

Unfortunately the cat who was diverted away from the hummingbird later died of starvation.
posted by dgaicun at 3:38 PM on October 28, 2010 [2 favorites]

Awwwwwwwwww... I'm in love. Best of the web!
posted by Splunge at 3:49 PM on October 28, 2010

That dude must get so much ass. I totally speak the truth and you all know it.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:26 PM on October 28, 2010 [4 favorites]

"Oh, baby, you woke me. I was just sleeping soundly with this here hummingbird on my arm. Why yes it is a real hummingbird! Don't be silly! You act like you've never seen a guy sleeping with a hummingbird before. Why yes, you can help me out of my pants, thank you."
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:28 PM on October 28, 2010 [15 favorites]

It's like OK God, what did You specifically have in mind when You created this one?

Gonna go ahead and assume this is one of those anachronistic turns of phrase that You don't actually mean ;) Read The Selfish Gene for the real answer to your query.
posted by ReeMonster at 4:31 PM on October 28, 2010

When I was a young teenager out in the country, I had a crow that was raised by my neighbors, left them once it could fly, and promptly chose me to hang out with. He would be waiting for me when I got home in the tree, and would fly to my shoulder as soon as I got off the school bus, and just hang out. He would feed it these little red berries it liked, and when i had fed him too much, would turn his head and use my ear to store the extra berries for later.

As the summer went on, he'd also bring all sorts of shiny things to me, like keys, bottle caps, shell casings, all sorts of odd stuff. He'd always be nearby when I went outside, come flying down when I called him, and would fly circles around me, scouting out the area, when I would take walks to a nearby lake.

Ah good times.

The next summer, I also befriended a baby hawk for a long afternoon one day. He was just beginning to fly, but his mother really did not like me, and made a couple swoops at me and would yell at the little hawk and fly in between us whenever I was around. My family always has been known to be very good with animals, but that mother hawk must have really thought I was a bad influence, like i was going to get the baby hawk to start smoking and swearing and hanging out with the wrong crowd or something.
posted by chambers at 4:37 PM on October 28, 2010 [17 favorites]

awesome. thank you. i cried a little. damn you!
posted by noway at 4:49 PM on October 28, 2010

Came for snark, happily disappointed! Awesome.
posted by Aversion Therapy at 5:12 PM on October 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

At first, I was like 'meh,' and then I was kinda 'huh,' and then I was all 'whoa,' and then I went 'cool' and then I was totally 'ahhhh,' and now I'm like 'Favorite added!'
posted by prinado at 5:17 PM on October 28, 2010

That dude must get so much ass. I totally speak the truth and you all know it.


You're probably right. There's nothing more appealing than a good looking fellow (or young lady) doing something sensitive and kind.

Now, if he weren't good looking, people would just call him a "nice guy" or a "champ", or god-forbid, the dreaded sweet.

I was an ugly teenager. Skinny, and short with a peach-fuzz moustache.

And I did so many nice things. Helping old mothers carry their baby carriages down the stairs. Giving my seat up on the bus. Standing up to a drunken pervert once, as he harassed some pretty young thing. Kept the homeless company for a while. Took care of a kid who fell off his bike. If there was good to be done, I did it!

But I never got any ass.

Stupid good-looking nice people.
posted by bitteroldman at 5:26 PM on October 28, 2010 [10 favorites]

I fixed the audio ;)
posted by melissam at 5:27 PM on October 28, 2010 [7 favorites]

yeah, I know, epony-i-didnt-get-any-ass-ical
posted by bitteroldman at 5:27 PM on October 28, 2010

Here's what the guy who posted the video had to say in the comments:

3 months ago

Thank? u. Yea, I think he was attacked by a crow. Those are really the only carnivorous birds I've seen around here that will attack a nest.

4 months ago

Yea after almost 2 weeks he looked like he was ready to go, and I walked him outside and off he went. And now whenever i walk outside he sometimes buzzes over to me and stares at me and then flies off. its definitely a touching? experience.

So... yeah. Awesome.
posted by MrVisible at 5:29 PM on October 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

Civil_Disobedient: That dude must get so much ass. I totally speak the truth and you all know it

You know, I opened this thread and watched the video when there were 35 comments and I instantly noted that we had somehow managed to have a conversation about a topic that happened to involve a young and very attractive person without a single comment about their looks or sexual merit. I was wondering if that was because a) the person in question was male, or b) we've managed to grow every so slightly the fuck up around here.

Apparently, it isn't b). Thanks for clarifying that for me.
posted by DarlingBri at 5:31 PM on October 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

Earlier this year, my friend Tyson cut open a sidewalk to rescue a cat that was trapped below it during construction. Back story and rescue video.
posted by mbrubeck at 5:31 PM on October 28, 2010 [8 favorites]

Because their wings beat so fast and require so much energy, they have to eat the human equivalent of something like 50 hot fudge sundaes every day. It's like OK God, what did You specifically have in mind when You created this one?

In His infinite wisdom, He fucking loves eating shitloads of hot fudge sundaes.
posted by Greg Nog at 5:45 PM on October 28, 2010 [7 favorites]

One time in my teens, I was hand-weeding in the backyard, sometimes making a lot of noise (swearing at ginormous dandelion roots, clattering the spade against cement), sometimes going silent as I concentrated on the task. It was a sunny summer day, quiet and still. Except...I began to realize that after I'd been silent for several minutes, I'd hear cheep! cheep! cheep! close by, coming from the direction of the house's exterior wall.

I got up and went over to check it out. Saw nothing. Heard only silence. Went back to weeding. Several minutes later, there it was again: cheep! cheep! cheep! WTF? I went and stood next to the house again, listening intently. Nothing. I looked into the window wells of the below-grade basement windows, which contained gravel, decomposing leaf litter, dead branches. I poked around a bit. Still saw nothing. Went back to weeding. This time there was silence for so long I started to think I'd imagined the whole thing, but then cheep! cheep! cheep! This time, I looked more closely at the window wells. They were maybe two feet deep. The emptier one definitely was empty of anything that would make a cheep! sound. The other one...one of those branches was kind of broad and resting diagonally across the bottom of one corner. I lifted it up a couple of inches. There was a bird hiding under it. I'm thinking, "Did it hop in and then couldn't get out? Should I go back to weeding and hope the mother comes back? But even if the parent comes back, how will it get out of the well? What if I go back to weeding and one of the neighbourhood cats hears it cheeping and jumps in and eats it?"

So I cleared out the branches and then we stared at each other, the bird and I. I knew nothing about birds, but it didn't look to me like it was obviously ill or injured. It didn't try to fly. It didn't move at all. After some anguished thinking, I went into the house and got an oven mitt. I put the oven mitt on, squatted down and leaned in, lowering my hand into the well and resting it on the gravel in front of the bird. I sent fierce thoughts at the bird: "Get on, would you? I'm your elevator!" The bird sat there. And sat there. And sat there. Now what?

I tried sort of scooping it up, aiming the tip of the glove to go under its breast. It refused to be scooped. "Oh come on!" I pleaded out loud. I didn't know if using more forceful pressure would damage its feathers or something. "Come on! Please!" Anxiety was making me break out in a sweat. It was no good. I stopped trying to scoop it, and just crouched there, feeling despair, trying to relax tense muscles, leaving my oven mitted hand resting a couple of inches in front of the bird.

It hopped onto the mitt. I could hardly believe it. I beamed gratitude at the bird and lifted my hand out, slowly and carefully, marvelling at the tiny weight and the little claws standing trustingly on the bright blue cotton of the mitt. The bird and I stared at each other on the way up. I rested the mitt on the ground and the bird hopped off, headed across the cement away from me and disappeared into the tall grass and bushes of the backyard. It had left some bird shit on the mitt. I went back to weeding, casting worried glances in the direction where I'd last seen it. All was silent. I don't remember how much time went by before a robin swooped in, landed on the fence, and hopped along it chirping frantically. My fledgling responded with a cascade of chirps. Parent robin hopped in the direction of fledgling's chirps, sprang from the fence into the grass, and in short order I deduced from the way the grass moved that they must have exited through a hole in the fence, the fledgling chirping all the while as if babbling all about the afternoon's adventures.
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 6:01 PM on October 28, 2010 [19 favorites]

Also, here's one SPCA's take on when to get help (and what not to do) for orphaned and injured wildlife.
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 6:04 PM on October 28, 2010 [2 favorites]

It's illegal to keep a hummingbird as a pet, but bird law in this country isn't governed by reason.
posted by moxiedoll at 6:09 PM on October 28, 2010 [3 favorites]

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dm6H67kVgM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

This was so awesome! A lady is feeding hummingbirds by hand! I totally have to do that some time!
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 6:19 PM on October 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

cybercoitus interruptus: "Also, here's one SPCA's take on when to get help (and what not to do) for orphaned and injured wildlife."

Yeah. A lot of gut-instinct "awww" here and in the YouTube comments. However, the people who genuinely care about wildlife, or at least the wellbeing of wildlife, would act wholly differently. No, it wouldn't make for a nicely-edited video, but it would make for a more compassionate and caring outcome for everyone, especially the animal.

Anthropomorphism is seductive.
posted by gilrain at 6:56 PM on October 28, 2010

So, the animal was attacked, possibly by a crow, and found and nurtured back to health by someone who was patient about feeding and making sure it still had some basic skills (feeding itself, flying lessons, getting outdoors regularly), and in the end was released back into the outdoors where it continues to live....

... and there could be a more compassionate and caring outcome for everyone, including the animal?

I'd be curious to know what that would look like, exactly.
posted by hippybear at 7:21 PM on October 28, 2010 [4 favorites]

I rescued a hummingbird once. It was an awesome, albeit short experience.

It was the middle of summer, and we were working in our warehouse. The temps were well in the triple-digits outside, and the warehouse had no cooling system or even fans. In other words, it was just stifling hot inside. One of the guys found a hummingbird when he was climbing in one of the corners of the warehouse. At first we thought the poor thing was dead, but then it moved a tiny bit. We put it in a paper bag and I took it to my mother-in-law's house; she was just a few blocks away and she absolutely loves hummingbirds.

I knew that hummingbirds have to eat pretty much constantly, so the first order of business was to get some sugar and make some sugar water for it. Once it was made, I put the mixture in a jar lid. Then I laid the hummingbird's beak into the lid and just waited. It wasn't more than 30 seconds, but it felt like an eternity, and I was afraid the little guy was gone. Suddenly, the beak moved a bit. Then it started slurping the mixture as fast as it could; it looked like a cartoon with the little gulps going up the beak. Then *POP* the eyes flew open, and the wings started buzzing, and the critter took off.

Except it took off inside the kitchen and headed to a bedroom, where it kept bumping into a corner. Thump, thump, thump. I finally corraled the little guy in a bag. That's when mother-in-law got home from work, and she was in shock - and thrilled - to be able to hold a hummingbird for a few seconds.

But that was all, because we then took it outside, and tossed him up into the air, where he zoomed up into the sky, buzzed us, and zipped away. It was just too cool of an experience.
posted by azpenguin at 7:26 PM on October 28, 2010 [5 favorites]

melissam I Dissagree with your choice of music for the video, but I thank you for the website, I propose another fix with which TMBG are deployed Birdhouse in your Soul feels very much the appropriate song.
posted by Del Far at 8:02 PM on October 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

I've never seen a hummingbird perched before. This video is all 10 kinds of wonderful.
posted by empatterson at 8:30 PM on October 28, 2010

The hummingbirds around my garden like to come down when I am watering and just stare at the water jetting from the hose. I think the reflections/refractions appeal to them.
One day I had my thumb just right over the opening of the hose and the arcing stream of water was so perfect that the bird tried to sit on the water and got a wild ride into a tomato bush unhurt but wiser.
posted by Iron Rat at 8:33 PM on October 28, 2010 [4 favorites]

Last year on a week-long coastal hike in a remote area, a couple of times I heard a low pitched noise that sounded like a wild animal (cougar?! bear?!) starting to growl. The sound came from the edge of the woods and scared the heck out of me. Twice this happened (apparently I didn't learn the first time). And both times it was a hummingbird. Their wings make quite the noise when they're close-up and the world is still.

Thanks for the post. That was a fine way to spent three minutes.
posted by nelvana at 9:17 PM on October 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

Magic. My heart expanded blissfully. Thank you for that joy. :)
posted by nickyskye at 10:48 PM on October 28, 2010

This is my favorite squirrel story.
posted by fshgrl at 10:51 PM on October 28, 2010 [9 favorites]

gilrain: Yeah. A lot of gut-instinct "awww" here and in the YouTube comments. However,

Actually I just posted the SPCA link because I thought people might find it useful to know how to distinguish between nestling and fledgling and their different needs, etc. I went "Awww!" at the video myself. I suppose I assumed that the guy in the video had gotten expert advice on how to care for the hummingbird.

Aaaand as a result of your comment, gilrain, I went and looked up "SPCA orphaned injured hummingbird." Hmmm. Well, video guy's updates suggest the bird returned to the wild uneventfully, so hopefully he really did know what he was doing or had a rehabber friend as a resource or something.
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 10:58 PM on October 28, 2010

rubythroat.org has better info than those other sites, re cautions about hummingbird diet:

Sugar water is insufficient as a long-term diet for hummingbirds; the mix only provides carbohydrates and they need fats and proteins that normally come from tiny insects. You can try crushing up fruit flies (they're those little flies that buzz around ripe bananas) and adding them to the sugar water, but it is better to purchase Nektar-Plus, a water-soluble balanced hummingbird formula, from a local veterinarian who specializes in bird care.

posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 11:48 PM on October 28, 2010

The hummingbirds around my garden like to come down when I am watering and just stare at the water jetting from the hose. I think the reflections/refractions appeal to them.
One day I had my thumb just right over the opening of the hose and the arcing stream of water was so perfect that the bird tried to sit on the water and got a wild ride into a tomato bush unhurt but wiser.

We have a bajillion hummingbirds in our yard in the summer. They live in this weird-looking tree in the neighbour's yard behind us. They're the one thing I'll miss about living here. Anyways, our hummingbirds are teeny-tiny and they are tenacious little buggers. Sometimes they are even a little evil--they'll just swoop down and buzz your head, sometimes repeatedly. Whenever I water my veggie garden, they'll swoop down and hover around the water and they'll drink the water from the hose as it sprays out (in a fine-ish mist). So cool. I've also had the opportunity in my school's zooarchaeology lab to study their skeletal remains--so frickin' TINY and fragile but so amazing. It really makes you think: what could have designed that or how could it have evolved that way?
posted by 1000monkeys at 3:20 AM on October 29, 2010

Hope he taught it to migrate before winter. Doh!
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 5:34 AM on October 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

It has long been my dream to capture a young humming bird and fit it with a tiny, tiny machine gun, and thus create a wee avian Red Baron, and then it would have awesome dog fights with hawks and owls and crap. I can't believe this guy didn't even try to give it a little toothpick lance or anything.
posted by Menthol at 5:57 AM on October 29, 2010

Would it be wearing a tiny, tiny helmet and aviator goggles? Please say yes.
posted by Gator at 6:18 AM on October 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

I rescued a bumblebee from a bucket of water once.

Fucker stung me as soon as it dried out.

I don't regret it.
posted by six-or-six-thirty at 6:20 AM on October 29, 2010 [2 favorites]

> Gonna go ahead and assume this is one of those anachronistic turns of phrase that You don't actually mean ;) Read The Selfish Gene for the real answer to your query.

Is this like the atheist version of GOOGLE RON PAUL?
posted by Burhanistan at 8:37 AM on October 29, 2010 [2 favorites]

I wish I could rescue a hummingbird!
posted by experiencehunter at 9:51 AM on October 29, 2010

Apparently, it isn't b). Thanks for clarifying that for me.

No problem! And thank you for the thread-shit! I thought it was smelling a little too flowery in here.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 10:15 AM on October 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

It's illegal to keep a hummingbird as a pet. Doesn't this kid know anything about bird law?
posted by dephlogisticated at 4:41 PM on October 29, 2010

He didn't keep it as a pet.
posted by hippybear at 4:42 PM on October 29, 2010

Doesn't this kid know anything about bird law?

If its anything like ape law, he's in big trouble.
posted by chambers at 4:48 PM on October 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

I rescued a bumblebee from a bucket of water once.

Fucker stung me as soon as it dried out.

I don't regret it.

But don't bees die after stinging something/someone?
posted by 1000monkeys at 4:57 PM on October 29, 2010

Worker honey bees (Apis) die if their stinger gets ripped out after getting stuck in their victim as their stinger is barbed. Their barbs tend to hang up on thick elastic mammalian hide. A honey bee can deliver multiple stings and usually does when in combat against other insects. Bumblebees (Bombus) do not have barbed stingers and can deliver multiple stings to insects and non-insects without harm to itself.
posted by jamaro at 2:22 AM on October 30, 2010 [4 favorites]

You know, I opened this thread and watched the video when there were 35 comments and I instantly noted that we had somehow managed to have a conversation about a topic that happened to involve a young and very attractive person without a single comment about their looks or sexual merit. I was wondering if that was because a) the person in question was male, or b) we've managed to grow every so slightly the fuck up around here.

Apparently, it isn't b). Thanks for clarifying that for me.

Time for someone to break the ugly news to you, DarlingBri. Adult humans are interested in sex. So much so, that, when presented with a sexually desirable member of their species, they are liable to consider, or even discuss, the possibility of mating with said individual.

Shocking, I know. Not the neutered, Disney-esque world you were hoping for, perhaps, but adult, nonetheless.
posted by IAmBroom at 12:20 AM on October 31, 2010

I rescued a hummingbird once. There was a buzzing sound coming from one of the flowerbeds in the backyard that sounded like a bumblebee at first; when I moved the elephant ears aside to find the source of the noise, there was a juvenile female sadly humming circles in the leaves: only one wing was operational.

I picked her up as delicately as I could and carried her inside. She weighed so little, you could barely even feel her in your hand. And without both wings to help her balance, she was just a tiny log of bird, obviously awake and aware, but unable to even perch and so completely at our mercy. We fed her sugar water frequently and made her a tiny cloth nest in a shoebox.

It seemed like she had a broken wing and we had no idea how to mend it. When we called the vet, she asked us to bring the bird in immediately. It was a half-hour drive to the other side of the nearest town, and it turned out that the vet had no idea what to do with it and had no advice. She probably just wanted to look at it.

The next morning I eagerly went to the box to feed the bird again. In the morning light, somehow it was totally obvious that there was some sort of fibrous material on her feathers. I carefully pulled on it and then I realized what had happened. This bird had flown through a big, strong spiderweb and went down in a soft pile of leaves. I pulled with more confidence now, until she suddenly buzzed back to life and began hovering right in my face.

She had to be delicately herded down the stairs and out the door, which was very difficult because no one wanted to accidentally strike her or even scare her, and 'downstairs' isn't really something hummingbirds understand. I was really pleased that she was unhurt after all, but I also felt kind of disappointed that we weren't going to end up with a totally rad helipet.
posted by heatvision at 11:53 AM on November 1, 2010 [4 favorites]

I rescued a corvid fledgeling from a cat in the window well in the front of my house this summer and it imprinted on me. So of course I took a picture in the window well and videos in my backyard on the deck and one of him doing a jack nicholson in the shining impression.

The bird followed me from the front yard to the back and all over the yard while I was doing gardening. Once I went inside he hung out on my back deck for quite some time.

Haven't seen him since. Least he could have done was bring me some shiny coins. Ingrate.
posted by srboisvert at 11:17 AM on November 3, 2010