Any Hummingbird Watchers Out There?

We  get ruby-throated here.  I have a story, the first part is not nice but it ends superbly.

we lived on an old wood houseboat on a river in the summer, and kept the upper deck door open, and one flew in.

Well, we also had cats and before i knew it the cat had it. but somehow dropped it and it was unhurt and I chased the cat away and caught the hummer into my hand. went out on the upper deck, cosed the door, set the little guy down on the couch to rest.

when he rose into the air, he rose straight up to the deck ceiling and into some spider webs! (on water you get tons of spiders, can't be helped) but he strugggled free and zoomed off, only to lose altitude as he was wrapped in some webs and landed on the water where he continued,, like a little speedboat, going slower and slower.....Horrified, I jumped into the motor boat and went out the 20 feet or so and was able to reach down and scoop him up in my hand. The poor wee thing! He was exhausted - I pulled spider webbing off him - I think his tail tip had got hooked to a wing - spider webs are very strong. I thought he was gone, but held him in my hands to warm him.

Got back to the houseboat,  went to sit in the hottest, brightest patch of sun and laid him beside me on a cloth - I was afraid his body temp had dropped too much and he was also of course totally exhausted and his energy spent. He just lay there. so I went & got the hummingbird feeder f down and put one of the feeder tubes as close to him as I could. Nothing. then I tipped the feeder so sugar water flowed onto my fingers and I put my finger to the tip of his beak and he opened it and licked my finger!!!!! And so we sat while he licked and in a little while he began to stir and I think at that point he became able to drink from the feeder and sat on the little plastic perch, feeding.And when he was warmed and fueled up, he zoomed off like a rocket, up into the air and to safety. 

I felt so guilty, so badly, for having created this horrific situation by having a feeder near our open door, the cats and then the friggin spider webs! and him having to swim! I can't tell you how thrilled I was for the sheer magic of him eating off my fingers, seeing him come back to life and fly away. will never forget it and grateful that having helped create the situation, was given the chance and luck to help bring him back to his rightful life. this whole event took hours - one of the most amazing nature encounters of my life.

Dear Flannelette,

WOW!!! That is such an amazing story and what an experience for both you and the little hummer! You were so brave and kind to help him get back on his feet and be able to fly to safety!

You could almost write a little book about that experience and any others you have, since you must have encountered other things living on the water! My husband (he died almost 7 years ago) used to live on a houseboat before he met me, and he always told me the neatest stories about being on the water. It takes a really brave and adventurous person to live on the water, I think, but it must have been exciting!

Thanks for such a  nice story that ended so well.  

Two weeks ago we were sitting on our deck and we saw a hummingbird, so I got my feeder up again.  I have a mandevilla vine they seem to enjoy and I planted some fuschia petunias to attract them.  I'm a happy camper that my hummingbirds are back. 

Although if I got through 5 lbs of sugar a week like Nancy, I may tell them to go get a job!

Please! Would LOVE to see some hummer pics!

Honduras Emerald

 

Enjoy ladies I hope I didn't overdo it.

Maryb, we've had more orioles this year than ever too.  Unfortunately, we had to bring our jelly feeder in because of bees.  I'm still putting fresh oranges out though and get an oriole or two that way.  The rose breasted grosbeaks love the jelly and oranges too.  Mumito -- outstanding pics!  I truly wish we got more than one variety, but I appreciate my ruby throats all the same.

Mary, they are honey bees and they swarm on the jelly. I know that honey bees are dying off in parts of the country, but where I live they are plentiful.

A thought about bees & wasps(actually something that worked for my dad). Bees & wasps only live for 48hrs. According to my dad, take the feeder down for 48hrs. All the insects that have found there way to your feeder will have died from old age. The new insects will have found other sources & will flock there. New bees & wasps might eventually find your feeder again........& so it goes..............

auntienance-I haven't tried oranges yet. Probably a cheaper way for me to go since I have an orange tree

Mary, they are honey bees. In fact we had a swarm this summer in one of our apple trees. They stayed for a day then moved on to establish a a new hive. We have several varieties of wasps as well which will hang out at the hummingbird feeders sometimes but they don't bother the jelly. I am very familiar with the difference between them as I have been stung twice this summer by bees from walking through the clover in flip flops. You'd think I'd learn after the first time

Wow hipline, lucky you!

Cinnamon, this is a good time to put one out. The young are out of the nest and they swarm the feeders. I'm having to fill 2 feeders at least twice a day right now.

Cinnamon, we don't get many orioles at the nectar feeder this late into the summer, but we are getting quite a few eating fresh oranges. You might try that.

My daughter and I love our "hummie."

We homeschool, and love when our bird and critter friends drop in to keep us company.

Our hummies love our feeder, petunias, salvia, even pansies.

We had terrible ants, but bought te little green thing that goes between pole and feeder, and it works.

Thanks for the link to wildlife gardening, as we try to entice as many creatures as possible into our gardens.