So, I'm at the convenient store....
 

And this bird flies by my head while I'm standing in line. The store owner is a friend so I point out the stray bird to him. It's a beautiful green hummingbird! He tells me it's been there for a couple of hours so I offer to help him get it out. He opens the door , I grab a broom and try to direct the bird to the door.. no luck. I notice that each time he was airborne his altitude was decreasing. Then, like his batteries went dead, he drops into a display box of candy. I grab a box and gently scoop him in to take him outside. He was breathing incredibly fast and deep while laying on his side with his feet pulled in and his eyes closed. " He's a goner " I thought to myself. As I walk past an Icee machine I remember something I saw on national geographic; that is, hummingbirds need to eat often and sugar is a preferred food.He'd been flying around the store for a couple of hours looking for an escape. I melted down some cherry Icee and dripped it onto his beak. He was still breathing, but barely so I figured I'd take him back to the office and see if we can get him going again. I made a preemptive call to my employee Mike to have him ready some sugar water.
I get to the office, remove the bird from the box and place it in the palm of my hand- it's still on its side and to my surprise it's still breathing, slowly. I grab a spoonful of sugar water and put his beak in it. Nothing! Then I see his tongue quickly shooting in and out of his beak so I place his beak back in the water. He's eating! Cool!. Within five minutes he was standing up on his own and shortly after that he opened his eyes. I kept feeding him sugar water and within 20 minutes he was sitting on my finger like a parakeet.. heh! funny. As each minute passed he became more alert and fidgety.. then, without warning and just as quickly as his batteries went dead, they were fully charged and the chase was on! From one room to the next this ungrateful hummingbird made me run. We finally trapped him in a room with nothing to land on. I lift up my arms and the bird lands on my hand again! I move slowly toward the already opened door with a fully alert hummingbird sitting on my index finger and with a few flaps of his wings, he's gone. kind of a neat day.

nice!

Spectacular Barry!

sam adams in your office!? thats a sweet office!
Right on man, sounds like a pretty cool day. and props for saving a hummingbird!

Nah, I don't drink. It was the only empty box the store owner could quickly find.

kind of goofy, but I can't wipe the smile off my face. heh!

Dr. Doolittle...that's pretty cool

that was a great story, thats one to tell your kids some day and the pics make it that much cooler.

Very cool.

great story!

Great story! You're getting some nice from Santa this year!

May nature bless you with calm waters for your good deed!

That's awesome! Hummingbirds are the best. My dad always had 3-4 feeders and thus a colony of ear buzzers at all times. You can get them used to you where they will sit on your hand at the feeder, takes about a week or so.

I had the same thing (humming bird) fly into the lake house. In the summer all the doors and windows open he flew in and it was the exact same story as yours (low batterys) with high ceilings there was no way I could get him out. He finally gave out and landed low where I could put him on the hand rail out side. Awesome story. Wonder what wild life would be like if we never killed or hurt any of them

It's pretty amazing how small those things are. I mean, you know they're small, but I didn't realize just how small. The whole time I was holding it I couldn't feel any weight in my hand.

birds are a trip as far as weight goes. You see those giant owls with 6ft+ wingspan, and they look like they weigh 50lbs. I held one on my arm once, and it was less than 3lbs!!! I was at a DU dinner a few weeks ago, and the Falcon guys had some of their birds in their booth. They weigh next to nothing, yet they could mess you up!

Thats pretty cool for sure. It looks crazy small.

Great post Barry

That's cool that you were able to revive the little guy.

Have you seen this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvrcdQWzH-8

Wow! That's neat. He had a feeder hanging inside the house. heh!

Cool! Great Mitzvah!

awesome!

Very cool.

I just realized I typed convenient store rather than convenience store.