This is a true story about Hummer, a teeny, tiny hummingbird that I came upon one morning while gardening. Throughout my garden, there are buckets scattered around to catch rainwater. It was in one of these buckets that something very small, not quite sure at the time what it was, perhaps a large insect, had drowned…so I thought. After reaching in and lifting out the creature, it uttered a distress call, kinda of a screech and moved its drenched wings. Turned out it was a baby Ruby Throated Hummingbird! I didn’t think it had a chance to survive so I placed it gently down under the protection of a large leaf. Later, several hours later, as dusk was approaching, I decided to check on the bird, not expecting it to be alive, but it definitely was! Being very damp already and expecting the temperature to drop down into the low 50’s, I decided to bring the bird inside and put on a towel. Waking up the next morning, I again expected it to have expired, however it wasn’t on the towel and my husband hadn’t moved it…so where did Hummer go? I searched around and found Hummer on the floor near Toby’s our bed. Somehow it had made its way from the counter to the floor. (And Toby is a good dog.) I figured by this time, Hummer must be a survivor and was probably very hungry, so a solution of sugar water was made. I proceeded to feed the bird with an eyedropper which it took to readily. Hummer was definitely hungry as its proboscis kept reaching into the dropper over and over. Fascinating to watch! Finally Hummer stopped feeding. After drying out overnight and having been fed, she actually started to look like a baby hummingbird, complete with those beautiful iridescent, green feathers. Generally a believer in letting nature take its course, (ok, maybe with a little bit of help) Hummer was put back into a protected spot in the garden, buckets turned over and left surrounded with plenty of nectar filled flowers to feed on.
Shortly thereafter, Hummer disappeared. She could very well be one of the many colorful, flitting and hovering birds that I see everyday amongst my flowers. At least that’s how I would want the story to end. Only God knows for sure. And by the way, thank you God for sharing this special gift with me at Johnnycake Flats!