Yesterday I just happened to be outside the house near my vehicle when I saw a tiny Anna’s Hummingbird flying slowly and weakly towards the red tail-light of the car which it was attracted to due to the colour. It then feebly hovered to the ground, and sat there with its wings splayed out in that “I’m exhausted and helpless” sort of look. Thinking that it was desperate for some food, I ran to the hummingbird feeder in the back yard and brought it over and placed it right in front of the bird. It didn’t take to the feeder, but instead flew weakly to a nearby perch but then flopped down into a bush in a planter below, again with its wings splayed out.
I went and grabbed the feeder again and brought it over. I gently and carefully clasped the poor little thing in one hand and brought it to the feeder in my other hand. I positioned it so that it was directly in line with one of the holes, and it started to drink! The bird weighed less than a piece of popcorn, and had a very short beak, and given its apparent weakness, I suspect that it had left the nest prematurely. It’s impossible to know how or why – it could have been flushed by a predator, or accidentally fallen while practicing flapping its wings on the edge of the nest – who knows, but it didn’t seem ready to be out in the world.
After it guzzled some sugar water from the feeder, I was able to get it to perch on the feeder, and tilted the feeder so that the fluid would be near the surface where it was sitting and its short beak would reach the fluid. It then flew off, but remained in the area, and the rest of the evening was spent helping it to feed from the feeders in a similar manner as no parental hummer was in sight.
But then all of a sudden a female Anna’s did show up, and the strangest behavior was observed. The adult would charge in and seemingly nip at its back-side. At first I thought it was an act of aggression, but then it seemed that it was prodding the little guy to feed on the many flowers in the area. I took some photos, but they’re not great as the action was moving around so quickly! One image shows the parent coming in with what I thought was a fly or bug of some sort, but it’s actually one of the tiny feathers that it plucked out of the rear of the baby! I don’t get that. Another shot shows the baby tugging at the throat feathers of the mother. It was all occurring so fast, I couldn’t see what was happening while shooting, it all got revealed later on the computer.
This morning the little guy was still present, but still looking quite premature and vulnerable. It was sitting near one tiny, single feeder I left out, but was having trouble perching on the small, slippery edge, so I cut a piece of foam plumbing insulation to size and wrapped it around the feeder, allowing it to perch and get some sustenance.
It carries on in the yard appearing & disappearing at will, and the mother occasionally is seen feeding it. Hopefully it will make it, and it’s yet another shining example of why domestic cats should not be left outdoors, especially in the Spring & Summer when so many baby birds (and other creatures) are so extremely vulnerable.
Cool story...
but....the adult hummer in those shots is a molting male...I don't think the male is involved in the rearing so I'd go with aggression over nuture in these images...
I hope the little one makes it but there is a reason they have 2-3 broods of 2-3 chicks each year....
arbitrage wrote:
Cool story...
but....the adult hummer in those shots is a molting male...I don't think the male is involved in the rearing so I'd go with aggression over nuture in these images...
I hope the little one makes it but there is a reason they have 2-3 broods of 2-3 chicks each year....
Hmmmm, are there positively no females shown? I did see a female this morning feeding at the flowers, and then bolt right over to the young one in a tree and seemed to feed it.
Colin F wrote:
Hmmmm, are there positively no females shown? I did see a female this morning feeding at the flowers, and then bolt right over to the young one in a tree and seemed to feed it.
The long sequence in the middle of the set is a molting male. The one down on the deck? is a molting male (not sure if the same one as the other sequence as they are showing different sides of their heads). The only one I can't tell is the last one as the head/neck is blocked.
It is a tricky time to ID them without photos right now. Most (if not all) the males are in some stage of molt which will keep on till Sept/Oct. So some of them just have small splotches of pink/purple in random areas of the gorget. I have a molting male chasing everything off in my yard right now, including the Rufous and half the time I think its a female until I take a few photos and see splotches of pink/purple where the female won't have them.
That said, I'm sure there could be a female coming also to feed the little one.
After not seeing the little one all day I was getting nervous, but then it made an appearance about half an hour ago! Unfortunately I also got to see it aggressively harassed by a young male. They are very territorial.
Interesting story Colin...
Your photos and words really convey the plight of the youngster... it's a tough world out there where life exists on a very tight energy budget.
