On a summer evening in Chautauqua, New York, a small green and blue hummingbird, attracted by the bouquet of flowers in a studio window, flew inside the school of art and suddenly found itself very confused.  Despite attempts to lure the bird back outside, it flew hard into a wall and fell stunned to the floor.  The student who had witnessed the bird’s accident carefully scooped the tiny creature up and carried it outside to the grass, where it lay on its side, broken and still.

An hour later, returning to the bird, students found it sitting upright—certainly not dead but trembling and clinging tentatively to life.  The students formed a circle around the bird and began to discuss strategies for care and the hummingbird’s chances of survival.  The general consensus was that the bird would most likely die, but that while it remained upright and quivering, there was hope.

While nobody knew much of anything about hummingbirds, one student proposed feeding the bird sugarwater, and after a trip to the cafeteria for water and packets of sugar, a tiny stir straw was put to use as a makeshift feeding mechanism:

The bird drank from the straw numerous times, and as the students sat around and hoped for the little guy’s survival, some musical therapy was employed:

The bird did not respond overtly to the music, but the students sensed that this song was perhaps just the inspiration that the hummingbird needed.  Later, after more feeding and as the daylight faded, the students held the bird in their hands and warmed his tiny little body, until suddenly the hummingbird took flight.  The students let out a loud cheer as the little bird flew off into the dusk.

Here are some sensible instructions for rehabilitating a stunned hummingbird:

1.  Keep the bird outside and warm as best you can
2.  Feed the bird a sugarwater solution – do not use honey
3. If the daylight begins to fade, and the bird still has not flown off, it may be advisable to keep the bird overnight.  In this case, place the bird in a shoebox lined with soft cloth.  Leave some holes for air, but keep the box closed so the bird does not fly off.  In the morning, take the bird outside again.  Hopefully it will fly away immediately – if not, repeat steps 1 and 2.

If possible, contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitation specialist.  Here are a couple of directories:

Wildlife Rehabilitation Directory: http://wildliferehabinfo.org/ContactList_MnPg.htm

Wildlife Rehabbers: http://wildliferehabber.com/modules/xoopsmembers/