Saying "Thank You"

Today, my neighbor discovered two Hummingbirds flying back and forth in her garage. She kept both front and side doors open in hopes the two hummingbirds would find their way out on their own.  

A couple hours later, when I arrived home from a trip to the local food store, I found my wife, Rebekah, out on the patio.  My neighbor  Millie had found one of the hummingbirds on her garage floor, barely alive. She brought the weak, still bird over to our house, in hopes there was something we could do.  

Rebekah feeding Hummingbird

When I arrived home from a trip to the grocery store, I found Rebekah out on the patio sitting still in a chair with one of the hummingbirds.  I believe this hummingbird was close to death. Rebekah had filled a small glass bowl with sugar water.  The bird slowly began drinking the sugar water.  The more it drank, the stronger the bird became.  Eventually, when it had had it's fill of sugar water, it gingerly flew off with no other apparent injuries.

Hummingbirds must eat approximately every 15 minutes and eats about half of its body weight in sugar daily.

Saying "Thank You"

Later in the afternoon I went out to the backyard and sat in a chair to watch and photograph birds.  Suddenly, a hummingbird flew close by and landed on the gate in front of me.  It sat there and looked at me for a few seconds, then flew off.  I can't help but feel it was saying "Thank you".  I only have a couple hummingbirds in my backyard at one time, and this bird looks just like the one Rebekah fed. This experience touched me greatly, as it is not everyday one has the chance to help a wild animal close to death, and to make a connection based on trust and compassion.  It literally brought me to tears and inspired me to write this post.