Archive: 7.24.07

Blind baby hummingbird my grandfather found on the lawn after the rain.

Before he got up close enough, he remarked "What a big bug!" only to realize after bending down to see that it was in fact a small bird.

He brought it inside to live on the kitchen table and bought a hummingbird feeder shaped like a hot air ballon. (which the bird will perch on, but won't drink from) So he feeds it maple syrup on a toothpick which it laps up with it's long, flitting, silvery tongue. Also nectar drops from a straw.

When we walked in, the little bird was on it's back, wings sprawled, tiny feathered chest lightly heaving in and out. But grandpa picked it up and set it down carefully on the perch. It shivered and trembled it's needle beak in the air looking for something to feel before grandfather touched the toothpick to it's mouth.

Apparently, hummingbirds eat every 15 minutes and at any given moment they are only hours away from starvation.
Their wings can beat up to 80 times per minute and and their heart rates have been clocked at over 1,000 beats per minute.
--They are, in essence, little sugar and blood pumps with wings...burning, beating, breathing...

Sometimes I think I'd like a pet hummingbird--but then I cannot imagine few things that would be more cruel than clipping the wings of a hummingbird.