The most amazing bird in the US is also the smallest: the hummingbird.Several different kinds of hummingbirds reside in the US, and most of them are smaller than 2 ounces. They’re very fast, but they can also fly backwards; in addition, it’s the only bird that can stop and hover in mid-air.
In the fall of each year, hummingbirds migrate to Mexico and South America by flying non-stop across the Gulf. The trip requires roughly 24 hours of constant flying, and many of them don’t make it. In the spring, they return to North America.
When I worked as a firefighter, many times these curious little birds would fly through the huge truck doors at the fire department and become trapped in the ceiling.
They would always fly up to the ceiling and almost never fly down – they seemed to be attracted to the red paint on the pipes in the ceiling. After flying up there, eventually they would become exhausted and finally fall to the floor, where they would die.
On more than one occasion I found one in the floor, too exhausted to fly but still alive. If I could reach it in time, I could feed him a mixture of water and sugar through a plastic soda straw.
The hummingbird would lap the sugar water with its tiny tongue, and sometimes I could even revive it – after a few minutes it would fly out of my hand and be on its way.
A few days ago, I rode out to Lake Howard in Sylacauga and found that the caretaker, Raymond Black, had hummingbird feeders all around the pavilion, much to my surprise.
In my life, I’ve never seen as many hummingbird feeders in one place – at least 25-30 of the tiny birds flying around everywhere.
Raymond constructed many of the feeders with 2-liter plastic drink bottles. The birds, he said, can empty many of the bottles on a daily basis. And although some of them would be there throughout the day, the largest flocks came early in the morning or late in the afternoon.
If you’re a bird-lover and are looking for something truly amazing, just drop by Lake Howard and see Raymond’s hummingbird collection. You’ll see more there in 30 minutes than most people will see all summer long.
