Since discussion seems to be light with few exciting sightings this time of
year, I thought I'd add on to this "Wounded Hummingbird" thread and relate a
Hummingbird bill mishap as reported by my wife....
A few years ago she was startled by a male hummer that, in an aggressive
pursuit of big pink bloom on a plant inside the screened porch, managed to
stick its bill through one of the tiny screen holes. Unfortunately the
tapered bill became wedged as it was inserted nearly to it base and, in
fact, the little guy got stuck...like a dart in a dart board. It was the
bird's violent flapping in an attempt to back out of his predicament that
actually alerted Nancy. Once she recognized what had happened, she tried to
gently push the bill out with her finger and was astonished to discover that
these thin beaks are not rigid, but somewhat flexible, with a consistency
and elasticity akin to cartilage. Pushing alone would not work. So she
called for the assistance of our then teen-age son. He wrapped a
handkerchief about the bird and gently pulled from the exterior while Nancy
gently pushed on the semi-rigid bill. They indeed managed to extract the
poor little hummer, but at some physiologic cost. It promptly went limp
into a sort of shock-like state, I guess. Fortunately, after a few minutes
and sips of sugar water from a teaspoon it recovered and was successfully
released. A happy ending to a bizarre incident and some resourceful
on-the-fly wildlife assistance by Nancy and Erik.
John Spahr
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