This time of year we get a huge influx of hummers. The neighbours have a phone tree for when the first hummer is spotted, so that everyone can get their feeders up. Too soon and they freeze and break. We have gone from one Rufus to many. One wee hummer found himself behind the screen on the back porch tonight. When I rescued him with my cupped hands and took him outside of the porch, we had the funniest interaction. Usually they are eager to go and pointy beak is jabbing out. There is always a brief pause when they are released. When I opened my cupped hands this time, the wee man was laying on his back with his feet straight in the air! I thought - OH NO!!-....then he raised his wee head at me , turned over and flew off to the feeder. The little faker.
Oh Mel, that was a delightful account. I didn’t know they did that. There’s always something new out there isn’t there?
Well done on rescuing the hummer. I've had birds do the 'I'm dead' trick too. Gives you a bit of a fright until you realise they're actually OK doesn't it?
So cute!! With his little feet in the air! I get a kick out of these birds. I once saw one hanging out with a flock of chickadees in my biggest perennial bed. He kept flitting from patch to patch with them, as they moved about. I later found out that hummers are very territorial & he was probably try to chase the chickadees away! I thought he was trying to join their flock. Ha!