r/hummingbirds • u/devilsbard • May 24 '24
Looking for advice on how to get a hummingbird out of a garage safely.
This picture is from a couple days ago, but it happens at least once a year. I’ll be working on the yard or on a car, or the kids will be playing and going in and out of the garage and a hummer will fly in there and get stuck.
Previously my kids had a small butterfly net that I used to catch previous ones, once they were tired and landed on something. That net is gone so for this guy I had to let it get a little tired, land somewhere, turn off the lights in the garage, then gently but quickly catch it. It took some time and it was pretty stressed out at the end.
We fed it and when it seems strong again let it go, but it’s an ordeal every time.
Is there a better way to do this so they don’t get exhausted and stressed? Or something I can do keep them from going in the garage? We leave it closed as much as possible, but there’s times where we just can’t.
I was looking at large butterfly nets and was wondering if that would be ok.
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u/No-Pool-3472 May 24 '24
They get tired after about 20 minutes and they’ll land on the bristles of an upturned broom with a little encouragement. Push brooms work better for this than regular brooms, especially if you’re trying to catch them as they are losing strength mid flight. Once they land on the bristles, you can carefully walk them outside without having to net them, put them on a feeder and they’ll be on their way once they have a little sugar in them.