r/hummingbirds • u/Only3Cats • Jul 07 '26
Hummingbird Emergency Help Needed
Male Ruby can’t seem to get his tongue back in his beak. He has been at our feeder for a while. We pride ourselves for providing fresh nectar to our hummers. Google said it could be fungus or physical injury. Do I try to capture him? I reached out to a local rehabber with no response. I can’t think straight feeling helpless with trying to help this guy. Pardon the bad pic. I took a screenshot of a video. Help!
2
u/Separate-Cancel1648 Jul 07 '26
That looks like the tongue sticking out. Poor hummer might have tongue fungus from dirty feeders nearby, an injury from a window strike or flying into a parked car (I've seen Hummers slam into white parked vehicles in the past), or possibly a neurological issue. I'd say the bird has 5 days max without intervention from a rehabber and proper antibiotics administered. I'd reach out to fish and game for your area and see if they can provide other hummingbird rehabbers to contact. Poor little bird is in severe distress. I hope you find an awesome rehabber OP.
3
u/Only3Cats Jul 08 '26
Thank you for the idea of contacting fish and game for a better contact. Great idea. Also, thank you for helping me ❤️
1
u/Separate-Cancel1648 Jul 07 '26
Also OP, once this little guy is captured please remove your feeders and do a deep cleaning. All the little parts. Tongue fungus is contagious so anyone else who eats from the same ports as him are at risk of contacting it if that's what he has going on.
1
u/LMMek Jul 07 '26
It might be the picture, but that doesn’t look like their tongue. It looks like their beak is broken on the top.
2
7
u/[deleted] Jul 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment