• Hummingbird Help

  • First and foremost, it is ILLEGAL for you to attempt to rehabilitate a hummingbird without the proper licensing. You need to contact a licensed rehabilitator ASAP. The advice below is intended to be basic first aid so you can get the hummingbird to a licensed professional.

    The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 in the United States declares, possession or capture of any migratory bird without a permit is illegal. This applies to hummingbird nests, babies, and eggs. Violation of this law will result in the hummingbird being immediately removed with a fine of $5,000 to $200,000 in US dollars and 6 months up to 2 years in jail if convicted. 

    I know they're precious & you may think it's easy to care for them, but it is not. They are not a DIY project, please respect them enough to get them proper care.

  • When hummingbirds get trapped in a home or building, they panic. They will fly and fly, hitting their heads on ceilings or into windows attempting to get out. Take a deep breath, one of you needs to remain composed. 

     

    If the bird has been inside longer than 30 minutes, you must make some sugar water. (1 tbsp white table sugar only + 4 tbsps water. Mix until the sugar is dissolved.)

     

    If the bird is no longer flying, it has collapsed from exhaustion & we don't have much time to save it.

  • Not Flying

  • You need to find the bird quickly. When they collapse, they try to grab the wall or window with their feet on their way down. Look between the windows & blinds/curtains, then at the base of all walls. The bird will likely be unconscious or too tired to escape. Do not assume that it escaped, look everywhere.


    DO NOT attempt to feed a bird that is not alert (eyes open, active)

    As soon as you find it, hold it in the palm of your hand with your other hand cupped over it for ten minutes. Your body heat will warm it.
    If you feel the bird begin to move, dip your finger in the sugar water and rub a little on the sides of the beak. Be careful not to get any on the feathers.


    Hold the bird like this for ten minutes.

    DO NOT RELEASE A HUMMINGBIRD THAT HAS BEEN TRAPPED AND FALLEN TO THE GROUND. THEY NEED MORE THAN A LITTLE REST AND SOME SUGAR WATER!

    Please, this is correctable, but it sometimes takes days before they are competent to take care of themselves after they have collapsed. Just because they can fly far enough to escape you, doesn't mean they can find food and warmth. These birds need a ride to a rehabber. Please.
     

  • Cat Caught

  • Cats have bacteria in their mouth that will kill a hummingbird within just a couple of days if they don't receive proper medical attention. After ensuring the bird is safe, your priority should be finding a rehabber. You don't need to feed it. It is hurt, not hungry.

     

  • Window Strike

  • If the bird is there for more than a minute, go pick it up and hold it in your warm hands.

    Injuries from window strikes may not be obvious at first.  Imagine hitting a wall at 30 mph.  Possible injuries include: concussion, hurt beak, eye injury, neck injury, chest injury, wing injury.

    Prepare a box and warm it (click on NEXT at the bottom of this page).

    DO NOT FEED IT. It is hurt, not hungry. Contact a rehabber.

    Even if it starts moving around in the box, call for advice and do not release it. Head injured birds may look ok, but they are not thinking straight and need many days to recover. Imagine you hitting a wall, 35 mph no seat belt. At the very least you would have a bad headache and neck pain. So do they.

  • Sticky or Oily

    These are problems that require multiple days of delicate care by someone trained to deal with them. DO NOT REMOVE A BIRD FROM A GLUE TRAP YOURSELF! Again, this is not like ripping off a bandaid. It needs to be done slowly and by someone who knows what they are doing. Use corn meal (or something similar) to cover all the glue. This limits the damage. DO NOT BATHE THE BIRD or use oil to try to remove it. The only thing you need to do is find a rehabber and call them immediately. Please click NEXT below for a list of rehabbers.

  • Sitting on feeder for a long time

    If the bird is not leaving, there is a problem. It could be hurt or sick. If it is hanging upside down, while all the other birds are flying around, that's a problem. Prepare a box.

  • 1 Story

    Open all the doors and windows. Turn off all the lights. Often if they see sunlight, they will head for that and leave. Putting something red by the door helps too, especially if it is a feeder.

  • 2 Stories

    Hummingbirds go up, and to light....always. They will not go from a 2nd story window and seek out a first story door or window from which to exit. So, if they are flying around in a skylight, or a high window, that is where they expect to find their way out. They fly and fly and fly and fly until they are exhausted. Hummingbirds feed constantly, so to fly and fly without a source of calories, they get hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) and eventually perch and die, or fall to the ground and die.Attach a hummingbird feeder (with a perch on it) to the handle of a broom. I use blue painter's tape. Add sugar water (4 parts water: 1 part white sugar) and hold the feeder at the level of the bird. If it is below the bird, it may not see it. They are frantic to escape and not thinking clearly. Once it sees the feeder, it will eventually perch and drink. Let it eat and rest. After a bit, while the bird is perching on the feeder, lower the broom and take it and the bird outside. Leave the feeder outside for the bird to have so it can restore its energy. ​

  • Hatchling

  • Hatchlings are incredibly delicate. They are unable to regulate their own body temperature and need to be fed multiple times per hour. Time is of the essence.  Keeping them warm is essential.  Prepare a box and put a warm rice sock or warm water bottle under a towel.  Place babies in their nest or a make shift nest (a rolled up sock works well), and place in a box, with a lid with holes.

    Contact a rehabber immediately.

  • Nestling

  • Fledgling

    Fledglings are often unknowingly birdnapped by people who think they are in need of human intervention. After a hummingbird leaves the nest, their mom continues to feed them for up to 3 weeks. The fledgling will fly short distances and cry when it is hungry so that the mom can find it. They aren't great fliers yet and they don't know what to be afraid of or avoid. Because they are basically toddlers with wings, people find them on cars, in streets, on sidewalks, etc. Or they hear them calling for their mom & mistake it for a sign of distress. We need to determine whether or not this fledgling needs help.

  • Adult

  • Move the bird to a safer location nearby.

    Find a safe branch or a bush to move it to. After moving the bird, you need to observe from a distance to be sure the mom finds it.

  • Observe

    You need to watch the bird from a distance and see if the mama bird is around. Watch the nest from a distance for 30-60 minutes without looking away for even a few seconds.

  • Still in the nest

    If you suspect the mom won't return, watch the nest from a distance for 30-60 minutes without looking away for even a few seconds.

  • Return to the nest

    Watch the nest from a distance without looking away for even a few seconds for: 30-45 minutes if it's a hatchling or 1 hour if it's a nestling

  • Create a Box

  • • Shoe boxes work well, but any box can work as long as you can close it or it has a lid. Poke holes in the top and ensure nothing can roll or fall onto the bird.


    • Find an athletic sock and put in 1 cup of uncooked rice. If you don't have rice, you can use a water bottle with very warm water and skip the next step.


    • Put the rice sock in the microwave for 1 minute.


    • Cover the warm rice sock or water bottle with a towel and place it in a shoebox lined with a tea towel, Kleenex, or a tee shirt. Do not use towels with little loops, their feet will get tangled.


    • Create a barrier between the bird and the warm rice sock to prevent the bird from coming into contact with the sock and being burned.

  • Warm the Bird

    • Babies ONLY: Use a salsa cup, or a bump from an egg carton, put Kleenex in it, and put the bird in the cup. If you don't have a cup or egg carton, tie a kleenex in a knot to form a "nest." Put the cup or "nest" in the shoebox.

     

    • Cover the box with a lid with holes and leave it alone for 10 minutes before checking on the bird.

     

    • While waiting for the bird to warm up, you need to find a rehabber. If you can’t find one near you, keep calling numbers until you get a rehabber on the phone. Their location doesn’t matter. There aren’t many of us, and we tend to know each other, so we will help get you to someone if possible. Select 'List of Rehabbers' below then click Next.

  • Create a box and warm the bird

  • • Shoe boxes work well, but any box can work as long as you can close it or it has a lid. Poke holes in the top and ensure nothing can roll or fall onto the bird.


    • Find an athletic sock and put in 1 cup of uncooked rice. If you don't have rice, you can use a water bottle with very warm water and skip the next step.


    • Put the rice sock in the microwave for 1 minute.


    • Cover the warm rice sock or water bottle with a towel and place it in a shoebox lined with a tea towel, Kleenex, or a tee shirt. Do not use towels with little loops, their feet will get tangled.


    • Create a barrier between the bird and the warm rice sock to prevent the bird from coming into contact with the sock and being burned.

    • Now you need to gently remove the bird from the feeder.
    • Approach from behind and gently close your fingers around it. Do NOT pull straight back. When they are unconscious, they lock their toes around a perch to keep from going to the ground.
    • Tug gently left then right and let one foot release at a time.
    • Place the bird into the box and put the lid on it.
    • Leave it alone for 10 minutes.
    • After 10 minutes, take the box to a bathroom. Close any windows, doors, drawers, and cabinets. Make sure the toilet seat is down. These are precautions in case it gets a burst of energy when you lift the lid (you are a predator and it's afraid of you).
    • It is easier to catch a hummingbird in a bathroom than in a living room. Slowly lift the lid to check on the bird.
    • If the bird is alert, offer it some sugar water on a q-tip or cotton ball.
    • Contact a rehabber
  • Image-157

  • Great job! Your work is done here.

    Thank you so much for your care and concern. You rock!!

  • On the ground without the nest

  • Babies should never be on the ground. The most common reasons why they are found out of their nests are:

    • A predator attacked the nest
    • The sibling kicked them out
    • The nest is infested with mites which caused the baby to jump out
    • Strong winds
    • Tree Trimmers

    Reasons to create a man-made nest:

    • The original nest is damaged or infested
    • You are unable to locate the nest or it is too high to reach
    • The original nest is no longer secure or needs to be moved to a new location

  • Create a New Nest & Re-Nest

    • You will need: Egg carton, scissors, something to use to secure the "nest" to a branch (pipe cleaner or twisty ties), and crumbled leaf litter.
    • Cut one of the bumps off of the egg carton, so it looks like half of a golf ball.
    • Use the scissors to poke 4 holes in the bottom of the bump you just cut off.
    • The pipe cleaner or twisty ties need to be long enough to twist or tie around a branch.
    • If you have a choice of colors to choose from, go with the most neutral one. Ideally, we want the new nest to not stand out on the tree.
    • Thread the pipe cleaners or twisty ties through the holes so that they criss-cross in the center and the ends hang down from the bottom.
    • Get dried leaves that are crumbled and place them in the bottom of the nest to provide cushion and cover the pipe cleaners/ties. *If the original nest is usable, instead of using leaf litter, use some of the nest inside the egg carton bump. The padding should not reach the top of the sides of the egg carton bump.  Mother bird needs to be able to perch on the sides of the new nest.
    • If you know where the nest was originally & can reach it, try to attach the new one in the exact location or very close to it.
    • If you do not know where it was or are unable to reach it, we need to find a suitable branch where the mom can find it.
    • What to look for:
      The branch should be thin enough so predators cannot walk it, but thick enough to hold the weight of the nest and babies.
      It should not be visible to birds flying overhead (branches/leaves above)
      At least five feet above the ground
    • Place the nest approximately one foot down the branch away from the trunk of the tree.
    • Make sure the nest is level & secured to the branch before you put the babies back in it.
    • After the nest is secured and the babies are in it, we need to help the mom find it.
    • If the babies are old enough to chirp for mom, you will need to observe from a distance to be sure she does find them
    • If they are not old enough to vocalize or their mom is having trouble finding them, you need to use your phone to play an audio recording of other hummingbird babies calling for their moms near the nest.
    • If mother bird is not there within 45 minutes, remove the babies, warm and feed them and contact a rehabber.

     

  • If you suspect a nest has been abandoned, you need to observe it from a distance, without looking away for even a second, for up to an hour. This will tell you if mom is still around or not.

     

    Many believe a nest is abandoned because the mom no longer sits on it once the babies are fully feathered(7-10 days old). Please NEVER disturb a nest until you have ensured the mom is not coming back to feed them and you have been advised by a licensed rehabilitator on what to do.

     

    Click Next below for a list of rehabbers.

  • Contact a rehabber

  • LINKS FOR FINDING REHABILITATORS:

    ​Animal Help Now
    www.ahnow.org (provides names/number of rehabbers nationwide)

    List of California Rehabbers
    www.wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Laboratories/Wildlife-Investigations/Rehab/Facilities

    National Wildlife Rehabilitators
    www.nwrawildlife.org/page/Find_A_Rehabilitator

    ​The Wildlife Rehabilitation Directory www.wildliferehabber.org


    OTHER LINKS:

    Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center
    www.wwccoc.org

    Songbird Care and Education www.songbirdcareandeducation.org

    California Fish and Wildlife www.wildlife.ca.gov

    US Fish and Wildlife Service www.fws.gov

    ​American Bird Conservancy www.abcbird.org
    ​
    International Wildlife Council
    www.theiwrc.org/resources/emergency


    PLEASE UNDERSTAND:
    Most rehabilitators do not provide services to pick up wildlife. They rely on you to get these animals to them. Most work out of their homes and are not on call 24 hours a day. Be courteous and mindful of this when you are calling for their assistance. Never drop off animals at a location, unless you are instructed to do so. Wildlife rehabilitators often volunteer their time and efforts to this chosen profession, but have lives outside of it as well. Please respect their capabilities, as rehabilitators often specialize in certain species of wildlife and establish limits on the number of animals they can accept and properly care for. With rare exceptions, wildlife rehabilitation is not funded by local, state or federal government, so if you can afford a small donation, it is always greatly appreciated.


    Southern California hummingbird rehabbers:

    Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center, Huntington Beach
    Anne 714-454-7707
    Cindi 714-580-1793

    Hummingbird Rescue, Los Angeles
    Terry 310-804-3715

    California Wildlife, Malibu
    310-458-9453

    South Bay Rehab, Palos Verdes
    310-378-9920

    Ventura Hummingbird Rescue
    Beth 805-320-2438

    Project Wildlife, San Diego
    Christine 858-610-3312


    Contact:
    Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center is located at:
    21900 Pacific Coast Hwy, Huntington Beach, CA 92646
    714-374-5587
    Open every day of the year 8-5.
    Prior to bringing in a hummingbird, please email: orangecountyhummers@gmail.com or call Anne at 714-454-7707.

    For questions that don't require an immediate answer, please send an email.

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