Our garage is a hummingbird trap. On at least four occasions hummingbirds have flown into the garage and then been unable to find their way out. The problem is that the garage ceiling is four or five feet higher than the top of the garage door. The birds fly in and then up. Even with both garage doors open and bright sunlight outside, they never try to get out any other way than by flying up towards the ceiling, where they bump and skitter along the surface.
On three previous occasions we were able to help them escape. One time I turned the ceiling light on so it would fly near it; they are attracted to the light like a moth. I climbed our eight-foot ladder and stood with a towel ready right next to the light, and when the hummer lit on the towel, I gently folded it around the bird. Another time I held a broom up and it lit there. I lowered the broom slowly and brought it to the open the garage door. The hummer flew out.
The third time was distressing. This little bird flew around so frantically that it exhausted itself and fluttered slowly to the floor, where it lay there panting. I scooped it up with a towel and put it on a branch of one of our shrubs next to the drive. It sat there for a while and then flew up into a nearby tree.
Today was the fourth time, at least that we know of. Here it is perched on one of the garage door supports.
The trapped hummingbird
Our hummers are ruby throated. The ruby throat is not present on this one, so it must be a female. Here is a shot taken at the same time but zoomed out. You can see how high the ceiling is here.
Taking a rest
The arrow points to the bird taking a rest. This one would fly a circuit around the ceiling a few times and then perch where she is now or on the corresponding point on the other side of the brace. When it lit, it would look up and around like it was trying to figure out why it couldn’t get to the sky.
We tried for a long time to help this bird escape, but every attempt failed. I tried closing the garage doors and turning on the light so it would fly close to it. But it was skittish and wouldn’t come close enough for me to get it. It ignored the broom I held up. I put a feeder on a tall pole and offered it to it, but it wouldn’t light on it.
It’s funny to think about it, but even birds are individuals. One of the hummingbirds that became trapped didn’t seem afraid of me, so it flew close enough for me to grab it. One obligingly lit on a broom so I could take it outside. Another never perched anywhere, so it eventually exhausted itself. Today, the hummingbird avoided me. There seemed to be no way to save this little bird.
I had work to do in the yard, so I came and went through the garage, checking every time I went through. Finally, one time when I looked, it was gone. I looked around on the floor to see if it had tired out and dropped to the floor, but I didn’t see it. I also looked for feathers, since the cats were never far away, but I didn’t see feathers either. We hope it finally flew low enough to notice the open doors and flew out. But we really have no idea what happened to this little bird.
If she made it out OK, I hope she tells here friends to avoid the big open spaces on the front of the house.
The Visitor Center of “my” nature preserve has exactly the same configuration as your garage, Mark, and the same issues–though hummingbirds rarely find their way in (thank goodness). I’ve used a fishing net to capture an exhausted hummer in the rafters.
I was wishing I had some kind of net. I tried to make a net out of a plastic bag taped to a coathanger and then taped to a long stick, but the hummer was so spooked it never came close.
Do you have a hummingbird feeder? I read of someone getting a hummingbird out of her house by bringing a hummingbird feeder in. It flew to it and she was able to transport it outside.
Thanks for visiting! I always find it fun when someone outside my realm comes to visit and actually leaves a comment.
I wonder why the hummers are attracted to your garage interior to begin with. I bet she did get away, though…without cat help.
Robin – We did actually try to lure the hummer out with a feeder. I attached it to a long pole and clamped the pole to a ladder. I was hoping the hummingbird would start feeding, and then I could lower the feeder until it could see the garage door opening. But the bird was spooked it wouldn’t come close to the feeder.
William – Thanks for visiting our blog. We like to try to expand our horizons by visiting new sites, so we’ll be back. And please come back to visit us, especially on Fridays when we do our Friday Felines.
I’m not sure why they fly into the garage. We keep our feeder behind the house, but they occasionally fly around to the front. I have seen them approach the open door, check it out, and then leave. And then sometimes they have come in and become trapped. I wonder how many times they fly in and then find their way out without us ever knowing about it.