I held a hummingbird in my hands this morning.
I was out to take cuttings off a potted salvia to see if I can root them. It’s right out by the shepherd’s hook that holds a bird feeder on one hook & hummer feeder on the other. I heard a hummer chirping real close & it wasn’t it’s usual chattering chirp. It was definitely a panicked chirp. Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp. In between, I would hear the humm sound of it’s wings. I kept looking all around to spy it. Not on the red salvia, not on the blue salvia, not on the hummer feeder, where is it????? I checked again thinking I was going crazy b/c I know what I was hearing was close. Looked everywhere in the sky. Chirp, chirp, chirp, frantic sounding & then hummmmm, hummmmm, hummmmm. I checked to make sure there were no spider webs from the hummer feeder to the shepherd’s hook or to the ground as several times I have removed cobwebs attached to such. Still hearing the desperate chirp followed by the hummmm. Okay, Ann, calm down, stand real still & just listen closely. Ah! Down in the liriope which is still blooming but I have never seen hummers sip from liriope???? So I look down & there I spy a hummer in the grass next to the liriope. The grass is deep, needs cutting. I wondered if it was getting bugs & didn’t want to disturb it if it was, but it wasn’t getting bugs. The little thing is chirping & then hummmmmm, beating it’s wings trying to lift upward but it’s not working, over & over again. Well, I can’t tell why it can’t lift off unless it’s just that the grass is so thick & tall & wet with the morning dew. I put my cupped hands down beneath it & scooped it up, raised it to my waist & wondered how I was going to check this hummer out without hurting it or scaring it to death. It was a female ruby throated hummer. It was the softest thing I’ve ever had in my hands. I had not begun to check it over yet but raised it higher to get a better look at it’s topside first & at that moment it just left my hands & flew straight forward away from me like the little hovercrafts they are. It was one of those moments you’ll never forget. It was so moving.
