Another Bird Story

I don't know what to do. Having the shop's garage doors open during the summer is almost a necessity. The kids love to play and ride their bikes in there, and Chris and I are in and out with tools non-stop. But there is a small problem. And I mean small. Hummingbirds wander in to the shop, then because the ceiling is higher than the doors, they can't seem to find their way out. If a bird gets lost in the shop, my standard trick is to put a hummingbird feeder on top of a tall ladder in the doorway. If the bird sees the feeder, it will head toward it, then be able to find its way out. If it doesn't see the feeder, then the bird wears itself out and ends up dead by the end of the day. I hate that.

Today, the kids wanted to play in the shop, so I opened the doors halfway, hoping that would deter any birds from wandering in. One got in anyway. I set up the feeder on the ladder, and after supper, I went to check to see if the bird was still in there. I found it sitting on the floor, nearly comatose. Afraid to pick it up (they are so tiny) I got Chris to come out and help me. He picked it up and we tried to dip its beak in some sugar water. It didn't seem to get it, so we put it on the tailgate of the truck and I sat with a drip of sugarwater on the end of my finger in the hopes it might accidently get a taste and perk up.

For a long while it didn't move much, but eventually it looked like it might have swallowed some, and a few times I actually saw its tongue come out and lick at the droplet. He seemed to perk up a bit and since it was time to get the kid in bed, I moved it to a towel on the porch with the feeder close by. An hour later, and it is gone. I'm going to check and make sure it flew off and didn't get snatched by a cat...