I had the privilege of helping out one of our resident male Anna’s hummingbird, PeeWee, the other day. It had been a cool rainy day and I saw him sitting at the feeder looking unwell, and he sat for what seemed a long time, and disheveled looking. He didn’t even chirp at me when I got up closer to the opened door as he usually does. I saw him feed slowly but then squirt (diarrhea like) then he’d try to take off but dropped down and hit the patio glass railing and fell into my potted hydrangea pot was fluttering. I made the decision to go check up on him, he was fluttering frantically and then stopped, all splayed out in the pot, unable to get out and seemed stunned. Being that they can walk, there was no where to perch and not enough wide area to take off in his condition. I was worried, so made the call to picked him up gently and protect him from getting hurt, or hurt further. He was damp, and I could feel him seeming a bit limp. I went and got the tea towel to lightly shelter my hand and him to keep him warm. I think maybe he somehow ran out of steam and was cold from being a bit unwell. For a few minutes he sat in my loosely cupped hand with his translucent tongue pertruding out. After those minutes I started to feel warmth coming from him and more vibrations and his tongue moved a bit, so I let go of my hand and put my hand held nectar feeder to his beak. He seemed to have taken a sip. In another minute when I opened the tea towel up, he took flight up, hovered to the side of me, then took off out the patio door, maneuvered over the railing without issue, though still a little sluggish in speed. Hopefully he had recovered fully. I saw him later on at the feeder, phew! All is well again.
I checked the towel I had him in, he def had as bout of the squirts, maybe having eaten some spoiled nectar elsewhere or the store bought. Then I went back to check the planter and found this one tail feather of his. A lovely memorabilia of this encounter. He was so petite and stunning. When he was splayed out his feathers all were shimming the electric green and magenta, breathtakingly beautiful. I still can’t believe I had him in my hand, trusting me to care for him. ❤️
Photo taken at: Onelushlife Studio