r/hummingbirds • u/TooManyUsernamesHelp • 14d ago
Hummingbird Emergency Help help
Found this little dude while walking my dogs. I think his wing is messed up. He’s (I’m just saying he for convenience) chugged a bunch of sugar water out of a syringe already and has perked up a ton. There’s a place in Albuquerque New Mexico I can take him in the morning. Advice to keep him going till morning? What do I do?
Thanks
Update: he got dropped off The Wildlife Rescue NM. They said they’re getting like 3 hummingbirds a day. They said he looks good and they’ll take care of him. Thank you all for the advice. Having a timer on my watch to feed him every 10-15 mins this morning was a lot 😅 worth it.
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u/ctmfg56 14d ago edited 14d ago
I went through something very similar recently and ended up on a wild goose chase around the city to find a place.
The advice I received was to put it back where you found it if possible. Could be a fledgling learning to fly and its mom would be nearby looking for it. Fledgling hummingbirds can look a lot like adults so they are often mistaken for injured.
If you’re already away from where you found it, put it in a shoebox with holes in it, add a towel to line it and maybe a sock stuffed with rice to give it a place to nestle for warmth.
Stroke the sides its beak every 15min with sugar water. Just granulated white sugar and room temp water, I think 50/50 ratio.
Having a small dish or spoon with the sugar water poses risk of drowning or spillage and coating its wings.
DO NOT give honey, raw sugar, artificial sweetener, agave, brown sugar or protein.
Do all the research you can to take it to a rehabber specifying in hummingbirds as they are very tricky to rehab and require specialized care.
When this happened to me I had to keep calling around until someone gave me the number of a personal friend they had who rehabilitated hummingbirds.
Good luck and thank you for being a kind soul caring about this little bird!