One day recently I went to the garage to get something and while I was there I kept hearing a buzzing sound from above. As I looked around to figure out what it was, I spied a hummingbird up near the ceiling. Despite the fact both garage doors were open, the hummer kept trying to fly upward literally banging itself against the roof. It's not the first time birds have been in the garage. Every spring Carolina Wrens start nests somewhere in the garage and hummers have flown inside in the past and had difficulty finding their way out.

As I watched, this hummer basically dropped from the air and landed somewhere in the second floor loft. The upper portion of the garage gets quite hot in the summer and it appeared the hummingbird had exhausted itself trying to find a way out. I located the little one on some boxes and picked it up in a towel and took it outside. After several minutes it did not seem in any shape to fly off so I carried it to a table on the front porch where it would be in the shade.

Long story short, it took almost two full days before the little one recovered enough to fly off on its own. Fortunately, we were able to feed it nectar by hand (or finger as it were) to help it regain strength. It's pretty cool to feel a hummer's tiny tongue against your finger as it drinks! While it was recuperating, I was able to get close up photos I would never otherwise be able to get.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1/40 sec. f/6.3 ISO 400

Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1/40 sec. f/6.3 ISO 400

Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1/25 sec. f/6.3 ISO 400

Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1/400 sec. f/5 ISO 400

Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1/50 sec. f/4 ISO 400

Ruby-throated Hummingbird & T1/50 sec. f/5 ISO 400

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Linking to Saturday's Critters