Hang on, Little Tomato!

Know what I love about my barn and my barn cats?  The barn is nice and bright and airy, there's usually a breeze in the aisle.  My barn cats are all sweet (in their weird, barn cat ways) and 2 of them are pretty good hunters (Mugsy...he's just sweet.  We'll leave it at that.)

Know what I don't like?   My barn cats are good hunters.  And birds and other things fly into the barn, can't figure out how to get out, and are easy pickings for my feline mafia.   I'm a little disgusted sometimes at the gifts that are left for me in the doorway.

Hello, little one

This past week I was putting some things away in the hay stall, which is also where I feed the barn cats.   I saw a small flash of green that I almost stepped on.  A little ruby throated hummingbird.  It wasn't moving.  I stooped to pick it up, thinking it was dead, and it moved.   I took it outside, and it didn't try to get away. Ok then.   I had some sugar syrup mixed up for feeding my bees, way too syrupy for a hummer, but I watered it down, offered it and birdie drank like crazy.   So back outside...and it wouldn't fly.  Well, now what?

I got a small feed bucket, lined it with paper towels, and put the little bird in it while I thought this over.  She wasn't clearly on her way out.   Maybe she's just exhausted and needs to rest and get a few meals?    I put her bucket on the screened in porch in the shade, cover it with a towel.  Find a shallow lid to put sugar syrup in.  Another lid for plain water.   Sit myself down and go to our friend Google.  And yes, it seems that sometimes they just get tired, need to rest in the dark for a bit, eat, and then are fine.  So let's try that.

Well, evening comes, she's not trying to fly away.   Hubby comes home, and helps me feed her.   I say hummers need bugs for protein.  He goes and gets a freeze dried cricket (chicken treats) and grinds it into tiny bits, puts it in a little cup.   I have no idea if she'd eat it but worth a try, right?

We went to bed, thinking she'd probably pass overnight, but at least she's safe and has food available.

Morning came, she was still with us.   So we fed her by hand, dipping her beak into a small cup of nectar I made.   She'd eat, but not fly.   We agreed to take turns checking on her.  At this point, she's family, so we named her Little Tomato.   There's a Pink Martini song called "Hang On, Little Tomato" that was inspired by an ad for Hunt's Catsup.  The song is about a tomato who doesn't get picked to become catsup and is sad.  Seriously.  It's a nice song.

I called our vet, who doesn't take care of birds.  I called a local avian and exotic vet.  That vet wanted the bird to come through a rescue/rehab, which I couldn't find.   So I called every wildlife rescue I could, and the only place that would consider taking a hummingbird was an hour and a half away.   That place asked me to send photos of her, so I did.  They declared it was most likely a cat attack - she's missing some tail feathers but didn't seem damaged in other ways.  They said feed her, put her in the sun, and she'd be ok.  I was also to give her a sponge bath because her feathers were sticky from falling into her nectar cup, and sticky feathers won't fly.    We were also to feed her every 10 minutes.   Ok then.

Tomato after her sponge bath.

So we did as we were instructed.   I wiped her down with a damp paper towel.  Blotted her dry.  We took turns feeding her.   She perked up some.    And put Little Tomato to bed for a second night.

Woke up with a hummingbird right where we left her.  I got the idea that if she could perch, she could sit on the base of a feeder and feed herself.  Seemed to work great - I put the feeder in her bucket, she sat on the perch and went right to eating.  We still hand fed her, but not as often.  We tried some test flights - she made it almost all the way across the porch twice.  So we thought today is the day!  Little Tomato is going to fly!

And by that afternoon, the heat seemed to have gotten to her.  We were told to leave her in the sun, but the heat index was 104, so we kept her in dappled shade.  I think it was still too hot.  So once again, we fed Little Tomato before bed, tucked her in, waited till morning.

Day 4 of taking care of Little Tomato was rough.  She seemed to have labored breathing.  Her left eye was squinting.   She didn't make much effort at flying, and the few attempts she made were clumsy and ended in crashes.  

All those dark spots are full of pollen.

But I said how long can a bird live on sugar water?  She needs protein.  I have a few frames from a beehive that swarmed that are full of nectar and pollen - I keep it in the barn fridge to feed my other hives this winter.   Pollen is a good source of protein.   What happens if I try to make a pollen smoothie for her?  I got a toothpick, pulled some pollen out, mixed it into her nectar.  She drank a lot of that.   Little Tomato also felt pretty sticky.   I said you can't fly with sticky wings!    So I put a bit of warm water in a bowl, put her in and let her have a bird bath.  I splashed under her wings, got her nice and rinsed off, wrapped her in a paper towel, hand fed again, and let her dry.  

Pollen smoothie for Tomato

We discussed her progress, and how she wasn't looking all that good.  It was agreed - in the morning one of us would take her to our vet, and even though he doesn't treat birds, we'd plead for euthanasia.

Just before dinner I went out to feed Little Tomato again, and took her out onto the deck to see if she wanted to try flying.   She sat quietly on my hand, not making any efforts.   I waited.  She did nothing.   So I was about to take her back to her bucket, and she chirped and took off, across the deck, around the house, and out of sight!  I ran after her to see if she crashed, but she was flying really well, and finding a green bird in the grass would have been impossible.  

Was it the pollen?  The bath that finally got her feathers clean?  Was she tired of us?   Who knows.    I hope she's doing ok.

And yes, there were many times where we were feeding her, or holding her on a finger trying to get her to fly, and we'd take a step back and say "wow.  I have a hummingbird clinging to my finger, not trying to get away!"

I'm leaving the hummingbird feeders up and full for a while longer, just in case Little Tomato is nearby and needs an easy meal.

Want to hear Little Tomato's song?   It's right here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX2Hg4ldMws


Happy Trails!