(These folks are licensed only after extensive training, and it's not legal to capture or technically even touch a wild bird without state and Federal permits, except under the supervision of a licensed individual, so please don't expose yourself to legal problems. If its mother doesn't appear in a half hour, call your local wildlife rescue organization: the mother may have been killed by a predator, window hit, etc., and the nestling will need rehabilitation help to survive. If it's very young and helpless, not fully-feathered: If you can find the nest, put it back. Your best course of action depends on the bird's state of development: Always wash your hands after handling any wild animal. This is usually all you need to do it's worked in many, many cases of nests knocked down in storms. You may need to tie or tape a small box to the tree limb and put the nest inside (it doesn't have to be in exactly the same location, the mother will find her babies). If unbroken eggs and live chicks are found out of the nest, put them back in. If you find a nest on the ground with eggs or chicks still in it, put it back. The first thing you should do is nothing! Look around: is the bird's mother waiting for you to leave so she can feed it? (Only the mother participates in the nesting duties.) Occasionally, hummer nestlings fall over the side, but, like other birds, they're rarely abandoned by the parent. For their phone number, look in the phone book or ask your local animal shelter, zoo, parks department, or conservation agent. If you know your local hummingbird rehabilitation agency, call them immediately. Near dusk, the flashlight technique will work better. Leave it alone, and leave the door open in case it calms down enough to figure out how to leave. Instead, hang the feeder high up, inside the garage, so the bird can feed itself and rest comfortably. Note: if your garage has windows and cannot be darkened, this rescue technique won't work. Remind your neighbors, gently, of the trouble with red garage door release handles. Look for and hide any other attractive red items, such as paint can labels. You should also ignore the government and remove the temptation, by painting the release handle a dark color (black is good), or at least looping it up out of sight. To prevent a recurrence, keep your garage door closed when you don't actually need it open. Hummingbirds don't usually carry parasites, but wash your hands afterward anyway. It may lie still in your hand for several minutes, or it may leave immediately. After it drinks, or refuses to drink, open your hands, and when the bird reorients itself, it will fly away - probably straight up. Offer the bird a drink by holding it close to the feeder, but don't try to force it. Have an assistant open the door, and carry the hummer away from the garage. Turn on your flashlight, find the bird, and scoop it upgently in your cupped bare hands. Hummingbirds have poor night vision and don't like to fly in the dark, and the bird will flutter gently to the floor. When the hummer flies over a clear section of the floor, turn off the light. If the hummer isn't gone within 10 minutes or so, turn on the inside garage light, close the overhead door, and get a flashlight. But this doesn't always work, and you shouldn't waste too much time - the bird's clock is ticking. Sometimes this will bring a hungry bird to feed, and it may fly off in the correct direction when it's finished. What to do?įirst, keep pets and kids away so they won't make the bird more anxious, and try hanging your most popular feeder in the door opening and stand back. In an hour, a trapped and exhausted hummingbird can starve to death. But hummers aren't particularly analytical and don't have a natural concept of ceilings, and when they get scared their immediate reflex is to fly straight up, which only compounds the problem. Unfortunately, to a hummingbird they look a lot like trumpet creeper flowers, one of their favorites, and they fly in to investigate. The government insists that all garage doors have red emergency release handles. There's a hummingbird trapped in my garage! There's also a good moth article from the Missouri Department of Conservation here.Ĭlick the photo to see a movie of a moth. Here's a great reference website, Butterflies and Moths of North Americas. Many of them are active during the day, instead of being nocturnal like most moths. These large insects comprise dozens of species of varying coloration and size, but their flight and feeding patterns are quite similar to those of hummingbirds. If you're having trouble identifying a hovering, hummer-like animal - especially if it has yellow near its tail, or if it has antennae - it is probably a hawk, clearwing, or sphinx moth. Look here for answers to your hummingbird questions.
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