stunned after hitting glass
missing neck feathers, but drinking nectarSome years ago I discovered that not all hummingbirds leave the south in the fall. There are several western species that stray into the southeast and winter in favorable gardens or where feeders are available. After some research I began planting shrubs and flowers that bloom late into fall and winter. I learned to keep my hummingbird feeders filled all year. Finally I began to have a winter hummer or two. Most didn't stay long, but it was exciting to see them buzzing through the yard on cold winter days.
My late blooming flowers lasted for a long time this year--the cold weather was late in coming. I even had garden tomatoes until near Christmas. The hummers showed up, and one has stayed with me for months. It is a selasphorus type---a rufous brown colored bird that has managed to survive 17 degree mornings and a run-in with the sliding glass door.
It crashed into the door late on New Year's Day. I think it was being chased by something which may even have had him by the throat because a circle of neck feathers fell out as he lay in my hand after I rescued him from the patio slab. When I brought him in his eyes were closed and his tongue hanging out----I warmed him in my hand and then placed him in a paper bag while I worked in the kitchen. Before long I could hear him fluttering against the bag --a sign that he was recovering. Since the temperature for next morning was predicted to be in the teens I was uncertain about whether to release him then or the next day. His struggles in the bag grew louder, and I decided to let him go though it was getting dark and cold--- a few moments later he came to the window feeder and drank heavily. I did not think he would be able to survive the cold night after his traumatic evening.
At first light the next day he was back at the feeder in the freezing temperatures and has been here everyday since then.
Such a feisty fellow!---a few ounces of fluff and feathers surviving in a cold rather barren garden right now--but giving me so much pleasure every morning that he still shows up.
He will eventually migrate back to his western summer location somewhere in the Pacific Northwest.
