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strange hummingbird tale
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: strange hummingbird tale
- From: Cypicturelady@aol.com
- Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2003 00:09:26 EDT
- Delivered-to: pardo@metalab.unc.edu
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
Fellow Birders,
I just got home (it's midnight) from the neighbor's house, where we
were witnessing a strange hummingbird sight. My neighbor had called at 10:30
p.m. to say that several hummingbirds had been hovering around their porch
light, and what in the world was that all about? I questioned her as to
whether
they were in fact hummingbirds and not hummingbird moths, but she assured me
that they were indeed hummers. I suspected that, with the steady rain today,
they
had need for some protein in their diet and were going after the insects
attracted to the light. She promised to call me if they returned.
An hour later she did call to say that one was flying around the
porch, so I ran over to see what was going on. This female hummingbird, at
that
point, was not hovering around the light, but was flying around the high part
of the ceiling as if confused and not able to find a way out. We turned out
the
light, and eventually the bird flew out of the porch--only to fly right back.
So, with broom in hand, I got hold of it and held the exhausted bird to the
hummingbird feeder, which was filled with freshly-made sugar water. After
finally figuring out what it was, she lapped at the sweet water with gusto. I
released her when she seemed sated, and with the porch light turned off, she
finally flew away. We had prepared a shoe box just in case she would not
leave, but
she seems to have flown the coop.
Have any of you ever heard of or witnessed this strange phenomenon??
And what do you think the best course of action would have been? Thanks,
Cynthia Strain
Highlands, NC