Showing posts with label hummingbird. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hummingbird. Show all posts

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Challenges and writing work update

Yesterday and today’s assignments for the April platform challenge were to accomplish things I had already done – build a Facebook profile and give myself a Twitter name. I also have a Facebook author page. So I was ahead of the game there. 

However, Robert Lee Brewer is always very generous with his helpful hints. I’ll give you the links to Day 3 and Day 4 here and you can visit both sites if you’re interested in learning more. I feel that I know very little about how to use Twitter so I can use all the help I can get. I have, however, heard that Re-Tweets are golden. I had two yesterday that got to thousands of followers. I guess I’m doing something right.

I’m also keeping up with my goal of writing 1000 words on my novel a week, and I'm now writing a poem a day for Robert Lee Brewer’s other April challenge. The prompts are always interesting. Today’s was: take the phrase 100% (blank), replace the blank with a word, make that the title of your poem, and then write a poem. So far my poems are very drafty. They will need a lot a work before the end of the month. But at least I’ve written something to work with.

And in case you’re interested, here’s an update on the hummingbird.


The hummingbird is gone. I went out to check yesterday morning and it was nowhere in sight. The day before he was quite active. He was talking, turning his head every which way, and sticking his beak into the hole in the squeeze bottle spout to drink.  Every time I came by he opened his mouth. I was told to try putting him on a tree branch, so I did. But he was back on the path within twenty minutes. Maybe that showed him he could fly and he just finally got up the nerve to fly away. I hope so. I’ve left a hummingbird feeder out for him in case he comes back to his old neighborhood. After all he lived outside our front door for almost a week.


Friday, March 30, 2012

Does anyone know how to save a baby hummingbird?


Our post lady rang our bell a while ago to tell us a hummingbird baby was on our front walkway. Because it looked so still I thought it was dead at first, but this little one is still very much alive, and actually opening its mouth and trying to flutter its wings.

I moved it up to the garden area next to the path so it wouldn’t get stepped on and tried to feed it some agave liquid. Without an eyedropper that ended up being a sloppy mess.

I went back inside, watched a video online about how someone saved a little hummer by feeding it sugar water from an eye dropper and walking it around the plants in her garden. It practiced flying from her hand to her arm and back again. Pretty soon it was in a bush, flying from branch to branch.

I improvised with a little squeeze bottle with a sugar water mix and went back outside. The bird let me hold it while it took some sips of the liquid drops I squeezed out.  And it seems a bit rejuvenated now. It’s moving about on the ground, but not flying yet. And it keeps opening its mouth when I drop sugar water toward its little pointy beak. The problem is I have no idea how much to give it.



Hopefully its mother is around and coming by to feed it once in a while as well. And maybe some of you can tell me your success stories. I especially need to know what I’m doing wrong.

Of course there’s no telling whether I’ll be successful or not. But, at least it’s worth a try.