# Creatures Great And Small **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 8, 2008, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creatures-great-and-small/448513 "2008-05-08T02:17:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creatures-great-and-small/448513/1 "2008-05-08T02:17:17Z")
So I get to a job site today, helping with the install of two truck scales in a couple of silos in a rock and gravel quarry, when one of the iron workers gently hands me a towel with a hummingbird tucked in it. The little fella (the bird, not the iron worker) was clearly hurt, or just exhausted; we’d had high winds and thunderstorms the night before, and I’m guessing he might’ve got blown into this quarry and couldn’t get back out again. I very gently set him on the passenger floorboard of my work truck, and call John, this guy I work with (headed down with our generator/welding rig) to stop in at Ace Hardware and get me some nectar. I check in on the little guy a couple of times; he flutters his wings weakly, and tries to rise, before collapsing back down on the towel. By the time John gets there with the nectar, the bird had died. I wrapped him in the towel, scooped some gravel and sand aside, and laid him inside, and covered him up. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creatures-great-and-small/448513/2 "2008-05-08T02:32:32Z")
[QUOTE=ExTank] … to stop in at Ace Hardware and get me some nectar. [/QUOTE] Note that nothing special is needed here - sugar water works just fine. One part normal white sugar to 4 parts water is the recommended recipe. Heating the mixture makes the sugar dissolve much more readily - but of course it must be cooled before being offered to the hummingbird. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creatures-great-and-small/448513/3 "2008-05-08T02:49:54Z")
[QUOTE=ExTank] … one of the iron workers gently hands me a towel with a hummingbird tucked in it… [/QUOTE] That read likes the cover of an old “Life”. Black & white photo; visible dirt in the wrinkles in the iron worker’s face; bemused expression (getting the nectar there in time would not have helped; IME stressed birds die) At my cottage, the dragonflies are bigger than hummingbirds. ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creatures-great-and-small/448513/4 "2008-05-08T03:35:21Z")
Sorry about the hummingbird, **ExTank**. You have a kind and gentle heart. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creatures-great-and-small/448513/5 "2008-05-08T03:42:58Z")
Surrounded by the big stuff, it’s easy to lose sight of the little. And yet, you didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creatures-great-and-small/448513/6 "2008-05-08T03:45:59Z")
Bummer ☹ Poor lil’ guy. Well at least he had a little bit of comfort in his last moments, cozy in a towel. Yes you definitely have a kind heart. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creatures-great-and-small/448513/7 "2008-05-08T04:02:09Z")
Thank you both for trying to help the wee thing. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creatures-great-and-small/448513/8 "2008-05-08T04:18:42Z")
I’m going to see a 95 year old woman on Mothers’ Day. She has a hummingbird feeder outside her window, but it hasn’t had anything in it for a long time. Thanks to this thread, I believe I’ll take some nectar to fill it up and see if we can nourish some of those little ones. **ExTank** , that was cool. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creatures-great-and-small/448513/9 "2008-05-08T04:19:38Z")
Yes, that was wonderful of you. Perhaps it was just his or her time. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creatures-great-and-small/448513/10 "2008-05-08T04:24:44Z")
Poor bird. I’m glad you tried to save him, though. ---
**Author:** ![Maui\_Lion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@Maui\_Lion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maui_Lion)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creatures-great-and-small/448513/11 "2008-05-08T04:58:22Z")
Poor little thing…it’s so sweet that you tried to help it. At the very least, you kept him safe and warm as he fluttered off for the heavens. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Them](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/898d66/32.png) [@The\_Them](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Them)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creatures-great-and-small/448513/12 "2008-05-08T06:24:43Z")
**ExTank** , you and John and the ironworker sound like decent folk. Maybe someday I’ll be less broke so I can buy you a pitcher. You know you all get + karma points, right? ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creatures-great-and-small/448513/13 "2008-05-08T07:34:10Z")
Beautiful, **ExTank**. 🙂 Odd, isn’t it, what strikes your heart in just that way, even when the end isn’t happy. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creatures-great-and-small/448513/14 "2008-05-08T14:09:09Z")
On Sunday, I heard two of my dogs out in the backyard barking and carrying on, and birds squawking and screeching. WTF? I went out there and they had a baby flegdling bluejay. I don’t think they actually bit it. The parents were swooping and divebombing and carrying on! I caught it, then didn’t know what to do with it. I set it on the top crossboard of the fence. It glided (it couldn’t exactly fly yet) down into the neighbor’s yard, and they have a dog too! I peeked through the fence, and he was chasing it around. Poor little baby! It seemed to be ok when I held it, not bleeding or missing any feathers. I hope he survived. I’m sorry you couldn’t save the hummingbird. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creatures-great-and-small/448513/15 "2008-05-08T14:15:29Z")
Thank you for helping the bird. ---
**Author:** ![nd\_n8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/439d5e/32.png) [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creatures-great-and-small/448513/16 "2008-05-08T14:18:25Z")
[QUOTE=j666] That read likes the cover of an old “Life”. Black & white photo; visible dirt in the wrinkles in the iron worker’s face; bemused expression (getting the nectar there in time would not have helped; IME stressed birds die) At my cottage, the dragonflies are bigger than hummingbirds. [/QUOTE] That was my thought too. Hands the size of iron skillets and hard as stone gently cupping a small dying bird. Where’s Ansel Adams when you need him? Great hummingbird experience story though, sorry the little guy didn’t make it.