so yesterday afternoon my 6 year old and i were lounging about when we heard some wingy commotion at our front window. it turned out to be a hummingbird. we waited for him to calm down and tried escorting him out of the house, but he didn't care to leave. we noticed he had a wing injury and his feet looked odd, so i called the wildlife rescue and left a message on their machine and waited for them to call back. anyway we all hung out, i had a beer, he had some nectar, olive had milk and a good time was had by all. i took pictures and thought i'd share them with the class.
















he ended up staying the night with us and we made him a little bed in a little box with clothing scraps to keep him warm.

That's a happy story
I love hummingbirds - we used to put sugar feeders up on the deck at the house in BC. (but then the sugar attracted hornets, and I am super allergic...)

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ahhh, this is cute

once i had a mummy & her babies nesting in my kitchen cupboard. the mum had flown in where a brick was missing & it used the stuff in the cavity wall insulation to nest in. it wasn't a happy ending though, because when the birds had flown i had a flea infestation from the nest & had to have my kitchen pulled apart & these blokes came around to spray all my flat with these industrial machines.

i was almost eaten alive by the fuckers, but i suppose the birds were happy.

aww, so adorable. look at his long beak and tiny claws! i hope he gets better soon.

are they usually that tame, or was s/he happy enough using the bird feeder because s/he was feeling a bit ill?

those pics are smashing! makes you feel all warm & fuzzy inside.

this is my favourite thread ever?
i love your posts? (i mean your food porn ones too) you seem like a really good human?

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buy me some shoes any maybe take me for cola?

I'm jealous.
I have been looking at their nests and eggs recently un the natural history museum.

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Now honies play me close like butter played toast

i took a lot more pictures of him today, i'll upload them soon. the wildlife people called and asked us to bring him into the intake rescue center so we're getting him ready now.

you should keep it until it makes you one of these.

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Now honies play me close like butter played toast

^

that is the cutest nest i have ever seen. it doesn't look real!

That bird is the cutest thing I've ever seen :]

Let us know if he comes back!

What a little sweetie I'd love to be able to touch one haha.

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thats os cool. its like he picked you to help him. did he make it ok to the center?

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the cave mouth shines
by pure force of will
i look down on the world
from the top of this lonesome hill
and you can run, and run some more
from here all the way to singapore
but i will carry you home in my teeth
-mountain goats

what's that fluffy stuff in the nest?

It kinda looks like a coconut.

so he made it safe and sound to the rescue center. the volunteers there were very sincere and kind and we all talked for a while about the hummingbird's behaviors and how he's changed since he first arrived and they assured olive that they had a special habitat just for hummingbirds and that he would be well taken care of.
he was on my chest for the last couple of pictures and you can see where his wing was injured.

he really loved the attention he got from olive. he'd let her kiss him on the beak, cuddle him, whatever.
i love the last picture. and i love that he finally perched on the feeder instead of just slumping over like he was in the first pictures.

what kind of camera is that? i think this is so fantastic what you guys were able to do.

my step monster was a volunteer for texas wildlife rehab center so we had bats and squirrels and once we had a great blue heron, but never a humming bird. <3

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the cave mouth shines
by pure force of will
i look down on the world
from the top of this lonesome hill
and you can run, and run some more
from here all the way to singapore
but i will carry you home in my teeth
-mountain goats

it's a panasonic dmc lz2. i was actually going to get a digital slr for myself for christmas, but realized that this camera is perfectly fine. i'm especially pleased after taking these pictures.

and yeah it definitely made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside when we were able to get him to eat and help keep him safe. olive came up with the idea of finding hummingbird sounds (which we did on soundboard.com) to make him feel comfortable and when other hummingbirds came to our front yard he flew out and a minute or two later he flew back in. anyway we really really enjoyed this experience (chloe missed out because she's at science camp being a science freak) and we're looking into volunteering at the wildlife rescue center. man i would love to take care of a blue heron!
lastnight during the debate olive turned to me and said 'we should move somewhere really cold and then maybe a penguin will wander into our house.'

wow, i had to look after and injured Swallow once but wow, a hummingbird!