Rehabbing hummers

One of the really neat things about living in Sisters Country is we have two wild bird rehabbers who work from both ends of the size-of-birds spectrum. Gary Landers works with eagles, the biggest of our birds, while Elise Wolf works with hummingbirds, the smallest of our birds.

Both are authorized by the the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, which takes a lot of bookwork and studying to make sure they're doing it right.

Gone are the days when someone would find an injured owl, take it home and feed it hot dogs, hoping it would pull through - which is what I saw back in my early days of rehabbing.

The other day I received a call from a woman in Sisters about a hummingbird she found in her yard that couldn't fly. I asked her to place it in a small box with tissue so it couldn't thrash about and hurt itself, and called Elise.

That's the best thing to do with small birds that look like they're in trouble. The darkness usually calms them down, and a small box and tissue keeps them from thrashing about causing more damage as they're trying to escape.

If you come upon a hawk or an eagle inured alongside the road, the best thing to do is leave it be. If it's safe, try herding it away from the roadway and traffic without endangering yourself or causing a serious problem with traffic, and call law enforcement. Playing around with a large, injured bird in traffic is bad news for all involved.

Do not try picking up a hawk!

Anyway, back to the hummingbird. Unfortunately, Elise and the hummingbird got off to a bad start. After she took a preliminary look at the unmoving bird, she closed the box, but unbeknownst to either of us, she left the lid ajar just enough so when the bird came to it saw the crack and squeezed out.

After she returned with her hummingbird hospital box we were both shocked to find it wasn't where we saw it last. In a situation like that you don't move your feet. We both started searching around under and around us, behind boxes, chairs, tables, etc., looking for any movement, and asked her husband, Whitney, to help. We should have also looked up, for suddenly a blur went by our heads.

Whitney found it, hanging to a stationary overhead fan.

That was the good news I thought, it was well enough to fly, but Elise said, "Maybe not." She has a formal protocol she goes through when she works with hummers.

"It's very hard to tell the true condition of some birds who have been injured but can still fly, because the survival mechanism makes them very proficient at masking their injuries," she said.

We both could see the bird's right eye was injured and there was damage to the feathers on the back of the bird's head, prompting Elise to say, "So we'll just see, that eye and the impact on the head looks bad to me. So I expect a concussion at least." 

Elise also noted that hummingbirds require specialty care. First, they require foods that are high in protein and particular nutrients, which are not readily available. A hummingbird's metabolism is extremely high.

Simple sugar water that might be used in a feeder is not a nutritious meal for an injured hummer that requires substantial nutrition to help heal the body and recuperate. They require food for rehab that must be ordered, and is expensive (about $75, plus shipping).

Hummingbirds have fragile bodies and feathering, and require a netted enclosure that protects their feathers from fraying and damage, but is very secure.

For information on what Elise is doing, and hints for keeping birds from striking windows, visit http://www.grebe

acres.org or if you'd like to help with her costs, email her at [email protected] If you find an injured songbird, call 541-728-8208; for injured raptors, call Gary Landers at 541-408-0863.