Mister and I were in the kitchen. It was a beautiful day, so the windows and doors were thrown open wide. In L.A., this is common. We don’t have screen doors at our house, so when the doors are open they’re truly open. There aren’t too many bugs (excepting the damned flies), so we just go with it.
Anyhoo, back to the kitchen. Mister and I were working in there when we heard an odd sound. I walked into the rumpus room, trying to hear its source. I thought it must’ve been coming from the next door neighbors’ yard and merely reverberating off the walls and into the house. I went back into the kitchen.
A few minutes later (and only a few), Mister and I realized the sound wasn’t lessening and we both headed into the rumpus room to investigate. That’s when we saw it. A hummingbird had flown into the house and was trying to escape through a sky light.
The little guy seemed convinced that if he just tried harder, that if he beat his wings with more force, he’d be able to break through to that sky that was right in front of his face. I mean, c’mon! How can the sky be right there and yet not? That’s how I imagined his thought process. I’m sure it was something along those lines. Ahem…
We knew we had to help the little dude, and we also knew that in trying to do so, well, we knew he might not make it. Hummingbirds are delicate, tiny. So while I went for a ladder and protective eye-wear (those claws are tiny but they could still damage a retina, yo), Mister snapped some pics. He then grabbed a trash bag. With goggles firmly in place and bag in hand, Mister climbed the ladder and easily (and gently) took hold of the hummingbird. He quickly took the bagged fella outside and lay the bag on the ground and opened it. The humming bird was immobile. Our hearts sank.
And then the little guy inhaled, shook off the shock and flew away! He made it.
A few minutes later, we think we heard that same hummingbird gabbing about the experience to other little friends, just outside the kitchen door. That’s where the crack feeders hang, so we often hear hummingbirds out there. And though I don’t speak hummingbird (I only speak squirrel), I’m pretty sure I translated his squeaks accurately: You guys! You’re never gonna believe it! I went in there! Yes – in there! And they have a trick sky! Yes – a trick sky! They had me, I tell ya, they had me good! And then the big one – you know, the giant? It grabbed me! Swear to Zeus, it grabbed me! And then it let me go! I tell ya, as long as I live, I’ll never forget it!
Hummingbirds are funny.